The Weekend Project
by chibi heishi
Summary: Outside of every ninja village are smaller, simpler towns that the village relies upon for various needs. However, as Kakashi is about to find out, even small towns can hide big secrets. And if they survive this, then Iruka has a LOT of explaining to do.
1. Prologue

**A/N:** To those who are waiting for the next chapter of 'Storm', I sincerely apologize. This idea has been growing in my mind since about halfway into the second part of WhyMustIWrite's 'Not Over' story, and it finally got too big for me to work around. *glares weakly at Why* Anyway, now that the first part is written, hopefully it'll let me finish the story I _should_ be working on. Oh, and the only relationships here will be friendships or family-type bonds. **No romance.**

**Rating/Warnings/Disclaimer:** T / Language, non-graphic violence. / I own nothing you've seen before.

* * *

Hazy brown eyes cracked open, their owner blinking owlishly at the sudden increase of noise and light that had woken him from a sound sleep. The boy sat up, rubbing tiredly at his eyes even as he tumbled out of bed. Flashing lights meant that he was supposed to go to the little room, he vaguely remembered.

Sliding his feet into his slippers, the five year old stumbled almost blindly into the hall. He stayed close to the walls as he had been taught, completely ignored by the people who rushed around him. The confusion abundant in the air washed over the child, keeping quiet the complaints that would normally have been voiced at being woken at such a late hour.

The boy moved down a few mostly empty corridors, hearing the adults call out from other parts of the house. He pulled open a heavy door, slipping inside of the small room and closing himself in. The boy turned around – and found himself face to face with a stranger. The child's eyes widened in shock and sudden fear, but a strong hand clasped itself over his mouth before he could move.

The little boy stared into brown eyes just a touch darker than his own, barely registering the whispered curse that the stranger hissed out. Movement behind the stranger caught the boy's eyes and he glanced over to see yet another stranger – masked this time – step out of the shadows. The new one spoke, making the boy's captor turn pale. "Damn, he's seen you."

The captor turned halfway towards the other, his voice nearly pleading. "He's only a kid, barely more than a baby."

The other's voice was cool, completely matter-of-fact. "Doesn't matter. He's seen you, and we can't leave any witnesses. Not even a kid. Look, I'll distract them. We'll meet back up at the village." The masked one made an odd gesture, and then stepped past the pair and slipped out of the door.

The boy's captor looked sick, turning back to look the child in the eyes. The captor swallowed hard, feeling the boy tremble under his hands, and then he reached for a blade, taking a deep breath. The child's eyes slammed shut as steel flashed, and then silence overwhelmed the boy.

**-hours later-**

"You did _WHAT?!_ _HAVE YOU LOST YOUR **MIND**?!_" One of the two shinobi almost screamed at the other, his eyes wide with shock. The older boy spun to cast a near panicked look at their Kage.

The leader held up one hand, looking the younger of the shinobi pair directly in the eye. "Do you realize what you've risked with this?" the man asked quietly.

The youngest swallowed nervously, but then his jaw firmed and he met his elder's eyes squarely. "Yes, sir" he replied. "I understood it at the time, and… I still made the same decision. Given the choice to make again, I would do the same." The young man – boy, really – trembled slightly, but his voice was strong and sure. "Even if it costs me."

The three sat for a long moment in silence, two waiting with baited breath for the decision of the third. Finally the man spoke. "Alright, Iruka. Keep the genjutsu up until the boy is attached to his new home, and keep a close eye on him after that. I will accept him among one of our outlying villages as a refugee. But remember, he is your responsibility now – if he betrays us, it will be you we will seek as well."

Fourteen year old Umino, Iruka nodded. "Yes, Hokage-sama. I understand."

Years later, the Sandaime would look back upon that meeting, shaking his head in fond exasperation as the young teacher took responsibility for yet another child that Konoha left orphaned or should have killed.

Years after that, the Godaime would read over the Sandaime's report of the meeting and muse on the sheer unlikelihood of it all.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N:** *bangs head on desk* I. Hate. PLOT BUNNIES!! Halfway into the second chapter - the SECOND CHAPTER - of this, and one line gets me ambushed! *bangs head again* Ahem, sorry, had to rant there. Anyway, thank you to the prologue's reviewers: **Hiya120, KakashiKrazed **and** WhyMustIWrite.**

**Disclaimer:** Rated T for language, violence and OC's. I also don't own Naruto.

* * *

Taro bounced excitedly in place, the little boy's eyes shining brightly. As the silhouette of a man appeared on the horizon, the four-year-old gasped. He bolted out from under Jun's hand, screaming excitedly for "Ruka-sensei!"

Iruka laughed, reaching out to swing the child up into his arms. "Hello, Taro-kun. Have you missed me?" The little blond babbled, waving his chubby arms as he gestured wildly.

Jun shook her head, the twelve year old smiling as she stepped towards the pair. "Iruka-sensei, it's great to see you. We weren't sure you'd come, because of the rains."

The scarred Chunin just smiled at the girl, reaching out to ruffle her brown hair, deliberately tugging a few strands out of the low ponytail. Warm brown eyes met bright blue ones as the preteen held out her arms for the child, the little boy protesting softly at the transfer. Iruka ruffled the little one's hair, making the toddler's brown eyes light up.

"How could I not come, Jun-chan? I would disappoint the children so much."

The girl laughed. "Yeah, Shin said you'd be here. He'll be here after dinner, by the way. He had something he wanted to do today."

"Avoiding me, is he?" Iruka teased.

"As if!" The pair walked towards a large house nestled deep in the woods, talking and teasing all the while.

Iruka paused before Jun opened the door, and the girl smiled as the teacher visibly braced himself. She chuckled as a veritable swarm of children, ranging from little Taro's age to almost her own, descended upon the Chunin. Once the initial impact was over, Iruka moved freely among the children, stopping for a word here or a pat on the head there.

Anyone watching would have known without a doubt that this was a family, in heart if not in blood. The children were like younger siblings, waiting for a beloved brother's return.

Hours later, once supper was eaten and the youngest children were finally tucked into bed, Iruka smiled tiredly at the elder children gathered around him.

The only two he had not seen that night – besides Shin, of course – were Arata, a young man of seventeen and Ai, a girl of sixteen. Those two were Iruka's most trusted children, his first foundlings, and though he loved them all, he had relied upon the two eldest to keep both the peace and the secret. But the pair had left the nest, moving out to the edges of the Fire Country to begin their lives as adults.

Now he had to rely on the next generation gathered around him. Fifteen year old Mai, the mother hen of the group, sat proudly at his right side and Jun plopped down at his feet. These two, plus thirteen year old Shin, had quickly taken up the slack and essentially trained to lead the younger ones long before Arata and Ai had left.

Iruka could only hope that the youngsters would be as effective as their 'big brother' and 'big sister' had been. After all, technically none of these children should exist, and most of Konoha's shinobi would be outraged if they found out about the house. It never failed to both sadden and anger him that these bright, cheerful children should be dead, left to die or outright killed as 'mission casualties'.

But because the teacher in Iruka could not bear such a thought, he had brought the little ones to this place, giving them the best life he was able. They could not come to Konoha itself, and they had to be very careful not to allow themselves to be tracked back to the house if they went into the nearby towns. Considering that the kids were all from 'enemy' states or homes, they would never bee trusted among Konoha's shinobi. But Iruka had no doubt that 'his' children were loyal – even those who had been angry at Konoha had come to love their 'family', and Iruka himself.

His smile gentled as he looked again around the house, not once regretting the fact that most of his paycheck went to support these 'ghost' children. The Sandaime had allowed it, and one or two of the ANBU had even brought him a child on occasion. He wasn't sure if the Godaime would continue to allow it, but since she had not yet brought the matter up, he was content to let it be. Until he was forced to make a choice, then his weeks were spent with his class, and the occasional weekends, along with a few weeks during the summer, with his children.

It was exhausting, but Iruka wouldn't trade it for the world. He only wished that he could have gotten permission to bring Naruto and Sasuke 'home', as he had brought so many other orphans.

But he wasn't able to think on it long. The door to the house opened quietly, allowing entrance for a young teenager with pale skin and shaggy black hair. Dark green eyes shifted up to meet his own, and Iruka was caught off guard by the intensity in them.

"We need to talk."

**-five weeks later-**

Eyes rolled behind the white mask as the ANBU guard assigned to the Hokage saw the most recent arrival at the tower. Light glinting off of silver hair, one visible eye turned up in an odd sort of smile as the legendary Copy Ninja – alias 'brat', alias 'royal pain in the ass', alias 'lazy bum', alias 'pervert' and so on and so forth – walked casually into the room. Hatake, Kakashi seemed to be completely unaware of the fact that he was nearly two hours late to meet his leader.

The masked man waved cheerfully, actually taking his nose out of the orange book in his hands for a moment while he greeted his former squad-mate. "Yo."

Heron dutifully suppressed a sigh, choosing instead to gesture briefly towards the door. "She is _not_ in a good mood, Kakashi-san." Heron warned, but as always, the Copy Nin just appeared to wave the advice away.

The man strolled in, dipping his head in a brief acknowledgement before nearly falling into the chair in front of the Hokage's desk. Heron closed the door as Kakashi slouched in the chair, unhurriedly propping his chin on one hand.

-

There was silence in the room for all of about five seconds, which was only to be expected. Kakashi internally braced himself for the explosion – that never came. That… was worrisome. His visible eye narrowed slightly.

Tsunade looked up from the papers in front of her, her voice unusually serious. "You're not going to like this, Kakashi." His leader warned.

Kakashi felt something inside of him begin to grow cold as he straightened in his chair. This wasn't good. There was no mischief in her eyes, no smug grin that should have accompanied those words. And she had called him by name.

'_Damn,' _he thought. _'This is going to be one of those "this is going to hurt" not-going-to-like-this, not just the usual "this is going to be humiliating" not-going-to-like-this, isn't it?'_

To Kakashi, that actually made sense.

But he was pulled away from his slight feeling of dread as the Hokage pushed the file on her desk towards him. He reached out with one hand, pulling the file to him and flipping it open with deceptive unconcern. Kakashi stared down at the picture inside, that small place growing colder as he took in the long scar, the warm smile of the man one of his students adored.

He rattled off information, barely paying attention to the facts that he had memorized. "Umino, Iruka. Age 26. Rank, Chunin. Typical position, Academy teacher and Mission desk worker."

'_Naruto's first "precious person",' _was what he was thinking._ 'The over-protective brat who was brave enough to stand up to all of us when he thought we were being careless with the kids.'_ One dark eye focused on Tsunade's face, all traces of laziness or inattention gone. "Situation?" he queried, his voice low and unusually soft.

"We can't find him. Umino put in for four weeks' leave, which is typical for him during the summers. He works extra during the rest of the year and then uses his accumulated leave all at once. He goes to one of the small towns on the outer Southern region, and he's been doing it since his early Chunin days. The Sandaime accompanied him for a day or two every now and then and occasionally sent a member of ANBU for the duration, so no one thought anything about it. He gets approval for the leave, and is always back the last night of his approved absence." Tsunade took a deep breath.

"Always, until now. He was due back five days ago, but we haven't heard from him. That doesn't mean that he's gone rogue on us. There is a possibility that he's fallen ill, or been injured somehow on the way back… I hope like hell that's what it is, because for all Umino has a record of disrespecting authority, there's going to be a lot of broken hearts in this village if I have to put a price on his head."

Kakashi nodded his agreement, thinking of the number of people – shinobi and civilian – that he had heard defending the teacher at one point or another. But his Hokage wasn't quite finished.

"Regardless, I need you to find out what happened to him, Kakashi. If he's lost track of time, smack him for me. If he's sick or injured, get him treatment. If he's dead, bring me word. If he's gone rogue… I need to know. I'm not going to lie – I _want_ him to be sick or hurt. I don't want to label him as a Missing-Nin. But I need you to find out if I have to."

Kakashi agreed, mentally working out the likely routes between Konoha and the town Iruka was known to go to. Debating whether the man may have had family or a lover in the area that could have held him up. But as he left Konoha, one thought kept repeating in his mind.

'_I don't really know you, but you had damn well better be nearly dying. If you do this to Naruto… If I have to kill you, Umino, I'm going to make it __**slow**__.'_


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Okay, this might have kind of short chapters for a while. I'm trying, but... Shinkirou is almost completely possessing my imagination. I won't drop this one, but it will probably be the slower of the two to update. Anyway, thank you to my reviewers: **iNsAnE nO bAkA, Hiya120, WhyMustIWrite, micah.n10, KakashiKrazed, Julieanna333, Lydia, Ryu Earth **and **vefa.** Please just be patient with me for a while.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own. Rated T for language and violence.

* * *

He pushed the branch out of his face, carefully observing the small town nestled in the trees. After an hour, Kakashi had not only memorized the streets but identified the places where people tended to linger and talk.

He walked onto the streets with all of the casual confidence of a man who knew he was more capable than those around him. The narrow streets were fairly clean, the buildings old but in good repair. It seemed clear that the civilians of the town took good care of their town.

He was struck by the reactions of the people in the town – usually the towns he stopped in were farther out where they had rarely seen shinobi, or Konoha itself. There, people either looked at them with fear or slight awe. These people did neither. They glanced at him, took in his uniform and promptly dismissed him.

He didn't think he had ever had common civilians dismiss him before, and even lords usually sneered before deliberately ignoring him. This… Kakashi didn't get the feeling that he was being ignored, it was more like he didn't matter. It was slightly insulting.

Kakashi stepped up to a small café he had noted from the forest, buying himself a small supper as he observed the people passing by. When the elderly woman who apparently ran the café brought him his food, he smiled cheerfully. She set down his plate, eyeing him skeptically. "What do you want here, boy?"

Kakashi blinked. "Um, huh?"

The elder shook her head. "Don't you 'huh' me, young man. The only time you ninjas ever come to this place is if you want something. Either you're picking up your silks from the market or you're asking about something. There's only one of you who ever comes just to visit. Now, I'll ask you again. What do you want?"

Kakashi floundered briefly, taken aback by the woman's bluntness. "Well, ma'am… I actually am looking for something."

A slight eye roll. "Of course you are. You all come here with your questions. I'll bet that you watched this town from the woods and came here because everyone stops to talk to me, didn't you?"

A slight twitch, but Kakashi answered her anyway. "Yeah, I did. I'm actually looking for a person, maybe you've seen him?"

"If I haven't but he's been here, then I'll have heard of him. You know this already, boy. Now quit wasting my time and spit it out."

Kakashi fought the urge to grind his teeth. He was quickly discovering that he didn't like civilians acting as if he was no different than them. _'Deep breath, Kakashi.'_ he reminded himself. "I am looking for a man named Umino, Iruka. He's -"

"Iruka-kun? The one the kids call Sensei? Yes, he was here about a month ago. Said he had an errand to run, and that he might have to go back to Konoha earlier than usual." The elder stopped, looking at Kakashi with sudden worry.

"Why are you looking for him? He's not in trouble or anything, is he? He's a good kid, the only one of you ninjas who doesn't barge in here making demands or acting all superior. He's even helped teach at the summer school once or twice when Ren was sick. What's going on, boy? Is there anything we can do?"

By this point, a crowd had begun to gather around the pair. "What's going on, Yoko-san?" one man called.

The old woman called back, "I don't know yet, Mashai. That's what I'm working on finding out. But this boy here is looking for our Iruka."

A murmur ran through the crowd, some even leaning down to send little ones running, presumably to get others. Kakashi forced himself not to fidget under the suddenly intense gaze of over a dozen people. One young girl called out to Kakashi himself. "Can we help, ninja-san?"

The Copy Ninja jumped on the opportunity. "Do any of you know where Iruka was planning to go?"

The crowd murmured again, each member turning to speak quietly with their neighbors. Finally one man stepped up. "I think he was saying something about his plans to my son. Wait here and I'll go get him."

"Ookay" Kakashi murmured under his breath. These people were very nearly doing his job for him. Not too much longer, and the man came back with an eight-year-old in tow.

The little boy stepped up, carefully searching Kakashi's face. He tried to look trustworthy, but from the way the child's nose wrinkled, he didn't think he managed it very well. The boy pouted for a moment, but he finally shrugged. "I don't think you're worth much" – Kakashi nearly choked – "but if it's for Sensei… He said that he was going to Kunruya, out to the west. He said that he had something he needed to find out. …If he's in trouble, then you'd better help him, you got it?"

Kakashi successfully fought the urge to salute sarcastically, but he couldn't quite prevent the slight twitch in his hand. He made faces under his mask as the town finally passed out of sight behind him, but he couldn't quite dismiss the impression of _belonging_ that the people seemed to feel in regards to Umino. "Our Iruka, huh?" he mused.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: ***smiles happily* My other story - and Life, can't forget that - finally gave me enough of a break to write a chapter of this one. Thanks for being so patient, everyone. And especially thank you to my reviewers: **Julieanna333, WhyMustIWrite, Hiya120, vefa, ChibiAliChan, iNsAnE nO bAkA, KakashiKrazed, jazzy, see1like, Swiss Army Knife, Kitkat973, Rangerfan58** and **TheWatcherandReader**. It makes my day to hear that someone likes something I wrote.

**Disclaimer:** I'm not rich enough yet to own Naruto. But! I will be someday!

* * *

Kakashi regarded the village before him with the utmost suspicion. After the reaction he got at the last place, he wasn't about to approach Kunruya quite so casually. Observing the town from a distance, he watched again until he had streets and common hangouts essentially memorized.

He took a slow breath, letting his old ANBU attitude settle over him like a cloak. The Kakashi who strode into the little town was a far cry from the friendly, slightly scatterbrained man that had entered the last village. This Kakashi was cool. Not intimidating, but professional. Anyone looking at him would know that he had business to do and that he would not be deterred.

This, unfortunately, was the wrong choice for Kunruya.

Even as he observed the faces of the people around him, he felt the air itself seem to grow colder, a distinct hostility rising. Kakashi found himself unconsciously stepping more lightly, keeping his weight on the balls of his feet so that he could move quickly if needed.

He stepped up to a corner shop, calmly buying a postage stamp from the man behind the counter. The man whose lips were pressed in a thin, firm line as he interacted with his silver-haired customer.

Kakashi's eyes caught on the toy truck lying on the floor… with a broken off senbon through its back wheels. "What happened to that?" he asked, mind whirling at the sight of a weapon piercing the toy.

To his surprise, the shopkeeper's lips twitched in what appeared to be the beginnings of a smile. "This ninja kid fixed it for my boy. The axel had broken, so he broke off the sharp part of one of his weapons and used that as a replacement."

"That… sounds like Iruka." Kakashi ventured, making an educated guess based off of Naruto's rambling.

The man smiled then, a little of the hostility bleeding off. "Friend of yours? He seemed like a good kid, not like-" the shopkeeper cut himself off abruptly, brown eyes flicking up to then away from the Jounin.

'_Not like who?'_ Kakashi thought, but he was on a specific mission, so he let it go. For now. He moved on, reading in the man's body language that he wouldn't get anything else from the man without threats. And he found that he really didn't want to do that here.

Truth be told, he was beginning to become concerned. Not for his safety – years of training and combat allowed him to analyze the way the people around him moved, and he had no doubt that none of them were a true threat to him – but…

_Everyone_ here hated him. Every single person who spotted him tensed, lips pressing into that hard line. Mothers sent children running into the house when he passed, and men shifted to put themselves between him and their women, glaring at a point just over the Jounin's shoulder. He was accustomed to a few people – even entire households – hating him, but an entire town? Something was very wrong here, and it needed investigating. _'After your mission'_ he reminded himself.

The next place he stopped was a small medical clinic, using the excuse of stocking up on another roll or two of gauze for his first aid kit.

As he paid for the roll, the girl behind the counter spoke, her tone flat and her words obviously forced. "If I may ask, what brings you to Kunruya, shinobi-san?"

Kakashi hesitated, but something in him screamed that lying to these people would be a Very Bad Idea. He had learned through the years that his instincts were usually right, so he followed them again. "I'm looking for someone, medic-san." His voice was unusually gentle, noting the sudden fear that flashed in the girl's eyes when he reached into his vest pocket.

He also noted the recognition, even as she relaxed – only a little – when he pulled out a piece of paper, and set the photograph on the counter. Kakashi pushed carefully, ever mindful of the body language of those around him. "It's important that I find this man. Is there any chance that you could help me?"

The girl bit her lip, grey eyes flickering between the photograph and Kakashi himself. "Is… is he in trouble?" she nearly whispered.

Again, Kakashi followed the instincts insisting that lies would not go over well here. "Not yet. But if I can't find him, then he will be."

The girl fidgeted, but glanced towards the back. Kakashi focused his senses, his ears picking up the sound of children's laughter. The girl suddenly nodded firmly, drawing his gaze back to her face. "Iruka-san said he was going north. To… Janga, maybe? Something like that."

Kakashi swallowed his pride for a moment, forcing himself to bow respectfully to the girl. "Thank you, miss. I won't forget that you helped us both."

As he stepped back, he barely heard the girl murmur. "Iruka-san is nice – he even played with the kids. Please, help him get out of whatever trouble he's in."

It wasn't until he had put nearly ten miles between himself and Kunruya that he finally began to relax. That little town had seriously put him on edge, setting off every one of his alarm bells.

He made camp a little earlier than usual that night, as he had some writing to do. '_Hokage-sama, I am still tracking the subject. Nothing so far definitively points either way. However, there is another matter which I believe requires immediate investigation…_'


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Got an unexpected break today - my teacher is sick, so no class - and managed to finish this chapter. And I'm nearly done with the next chapter of Shinkirou, for those of you who read both stories. Anyway, thanks to my readers for being so patient with my slowness for this one, and especially to my reviewers: **SongoftheDarquePhoenix, Hiya120, SearchingForAllOfMe, Rangerfan58, iNsAnE nO bAkA, KakashiKrazed, WhyMustIWrite, Julieanna333, vefa, The Dancing Bard **and** ChibiAliChan.**

And I promise, you'll get to see a bit of Iruka next chapter - though you might strangle me for the snippet of scene.

* * *

Tsunade drummed her fingers lightly, reading over the scroll before her once again as she waited for the arrival of the shinobi that she had summoned. Precisely two minutes and twenty eight seconds later – yes, she was bored enough to count – and her ANBU guards knocked to let her know that her visitor had arrived.

The woman who walked in was slightly built, her long black curls making her seem even taller than she was. Kurenai moved with an elegance that most kunoichi lacked, and could have easily passed for a noble rather than a shinobi in most people's eyes.

Tsunade wasn't most people. As the Jounin bowed, Tsunade reached into her desk for another scroll.

"Kurenai-san, I have a mission for Team Eight. Another shinobi, during the course of his mission, has encountered a town that he believes should be looked into. Apparently the people are angry with, and rather frightened of, shinobi – but he didn't have the luxury of staying long enough to find out why. The people do not seem to be aggressive, only passively hostile. I want your team to investigate this for me."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

-

Kakashi moved quietly, slipping from rooftop to rooftop as he explored the streets of Janga. He made absolutely certain to remain out of sight, even masking his chakra on the off chance that someone in the little village was sensitive to it.

After the disaster that had been the last two towns, he wasn't about to trust distanced observations to tell him how to proceed. He would walk the streets tomorrow, letting the people see him – probably – but for now, he would assess the atmosphere before he walked blindly into another situation that he was unprepared for.

Hatake, Kakashi may have seemed scatterbrained much of the time, but no one could accuse the man of being stupid, and he rarely made the same mistakes twice.

He remained out of sight in the darkness for nearly three hours, exploring the streets and listening to the people's tone rather than their words. He heard no trace of tension, no hidden anger or fear, and this relieved him more than he would have expected.

He finally slipped out of the little town's limits, returning to camp and planning his approach for the morning.

-

Yori looked up, startled as he heard a laughing voice call out. "Hey, give that back! Come! Sit! Wait!" Two seconds later, and the man fought to hide his smile as a small white puppy raced around the corner, holding a sock and being chased by a dark haired boy.

Yori reached out, scooping up the puppy and holding it out to the breathless boy. "Looking for this?" he asked, lips twitching in amusement.

"Yeah, thanks. Akamaru here hasn't quite learned that 'drop it' doesn't mean 'let's play tag'." The boy, probably about thirteen or so, smiled as he tugged the sock away and took his puppy back. "I'm Kiba, by the way. I'm here with… uh, crud. Where'd they go?"

Yori couldn't help but laugh as the boy twisted this way and that, obviously looking for whoever he was talking about. "Uh, okay… anyway, I'm here with my aunt and my two cousins, so… I'd better go find them. Thanks again, bye."

As the pair took off down the street, Kiba gave Akamaru a quick grin. _'Phase one: harmless introduction – successful'_ he thought.

-

Kakashi walked into Janga, his head held up and his eyes carefully observant. He kept his footsteps light, his posture straight, deliberately moving with the confidence of his ANBU persona but the approachable air of his scatterbrained appearance.

And finally, _finally, _he got the kind of reaction he was accustomed to. The people turned and stared, pointing him out to one another, but there was no fear, no anger. Only a more familiar – and infinitely preferred – surprise and awe.

Nearly nine hours later, Kakashi finally allowed himself to take a break, stepping into a small restaurant and ordering lunch. There had been no sign of his target – none of the townspeople had seen a 'ninja' as the civilians called his profession, in over a year. He was beginning to wonder if the Chunin had gone to a different town.

He smiled tiredly under his mask at the little girl in the table next to his as she bounced, a piece of rumpled paper clutched in one small fist, clearly waiting for someone.

A woman – probably the toddler's mother, judging from the similarities in their appearances – gave Kakashi a slightly apologetic smile. He just tipped his head to her, implying that the child's energy was no trouble.

And then the little girl squealed, waving one arm high as she called out. "Daddy! Daddy, over here! Come see, come see!"

Kakashi chuckled as the woman tried vainly to hush the girl, and a man sat at their table with a rueful smile. "What is it, Inoue-chan?" he asked indulgently.

"Lookie, daddy, I wroted my name!" the little one babbled as she pushed the paper towards him. And then she turned to her mother, holding out a hand expectantly. The woman smiled as she handed the little girl a pen, and the child pulled the paper back, her little tongue sticking out as she carefully scrawled her name again.

To Kakashi's amusement, the man made a fuss over the child's accomplishment, praising her as if she had performed an amazing feat of genius. The little one beamed, her green eyes crinkling as she chirped. "I finally gotted it. Ruka-sensei 'splained it good wait'n for lunch."

That caught Kakashi's attention immediately. "Um, pardon" he interrupted. "Did you say Ruka-sensei?"

The girl nodded, her entire upper body bobbing with the motion. "Yep, Ruka-sensei. He's nice."

Kakashi pulled out his mission briefing photo, gently holding it out to the child. "Is this him?"

The girl's face scrunched up as she studied the small picture. "Yeah… but… he wasn't dressed funny like that. Jeans 'n a shirt."

For the first time in the two weeks since he had started this mission, Kakashi felt a true smile cross his face. "Do you know where he is, Inoue-chan?"

The girl pouted, and then shook her head. "Nuh-uh. He killded the cave monster, then he left. That way" and she pointed somewhere vaguely over her shoulder.

"Oh." He tried not to, but he felt himself slump slightly as the mother scolded her child.

"Inoue, there is _no such thing_ as the cave monster."

"Uh-huh! Is too! It made funny noises, and made Chisa-chan sick. And Ruka-sensei had to fight it hard, 'cause he came back all tired!"

The child's words tugged at Kakashi's curiosity, making him wonder what Umino could have been doing to wear himself out in this quiet little town. So, against his better judgment, he asked the child one last question.

"Inoue-chan, can you tell me where this 'cave monster' used to live?"


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: **And the chapter is up. Hopefully it makes sense. Ya'll just let me know if I start getting too vague with this one. Thank you to everyone who reviewed: **singing ferret, KakashiKrazed, cjandre, Rangerfan58, iNsAnE nO bAkA, WhyMustIWrite, Julieanna333, Hiya120, Auphora66, Ally Plz, Leo, x-smith** and **Tara La'Quinn**.

* * *

The pair walked quietly down the street, the girl cooing softly over window displays in some of the shops. The boy beside her wore the long-suffering look common to males dragged along on female shopping trips.

A ruckus down the street caught both of their attention, causing the teens to turn. A third teenager, another boy, came barreling down the street. His face flushed and with a puppy trailing close on his heels, the boy skidded to a stop in front of the pair.

"Hey, Hinata, Shino." The boy panted, drawing the attention of the shopkeepers nearby. "Aunt Kurenai said to tell you guys that we're gonna meet up for lunch at the hotel."

The taller boy, Shino, spoke. "And you had to run all this way just to tell us that?"

The other boy grinned. "Nope, just wanted to run. Besides, Akamaru here could use the excuse to burn off energy."

As Hinata giggled softly, Shino abruptly smirked. "In that case" he handed Kiba the two bags he had been carrying. "_You_ can continue shopping here. It will help burn energy."

And as Kiba gaped, Shino walked away. More than one of the adults nearby snickered.

-

Kakashi pushed his way through the branches and brambles, stepping lightly as he wound his way towards the small cave in the side of the hill. His sandaled feet made small splashes in the water as he stepped through the reeds bordering the small lake.

He finally reached his destination, gloved hands pushing his way into the dark opening. He lit a torch, holding it in front of him as he stretched out his senses. The cave was bigger than he thought, winding deeper under the hill.

He followed the tunnel, his uncovered eye flicking carefully over the damp rock walls. And then he paused, a faint touch tickling at the edge of his senses. He followed that faint touch, tracking it past branching corridors deep under the hill.

The touch of residual chakra grew stronger as the deeper he went, and by the time he reached to cavern it came from, Kakashi had to pause. He eyed the floor of the room carefully, stepping cautiously around the edges of the space. There were thick lines drawn on the ground, marked with what had once been some kind of viscous liquid.

He knelt, hesitantly calling forth one of his nin-ken. Pakkun glared as he was summoned. "Boss, what are… oh." The little brown dog sniffed carefully, not needing Kakashi's warning to avoid touching the lines. The pug lifted a worried face to his master. "Boss… this was drawn in blood."

Kakashi released a long, slow breath, releasing his summon as he analyzed the lines. Many of them were broken, the overall pattern obscured by water and mud. Incomprehensible.

Kakashi tugged down his mask, letting his Sharingan eye activate. It didn't help him to understand the markings on the ground – if anything, it obscured them further by providing him with too many things it could have been – but it heightened his senses, giving him another edge to trace the residual chakra still clinging to the lines.

His own eyes narrowed as he walked the pattern. His senses were picking up two different chakra traces, one crossing and spiraling over the other at seemingly random intervals. Whatever the original pattern was, someone had tried very hard to disrupt it.

Kakashi scowled as he realized that, like the lines themselves, the two chakras had been together for too long. One had begun to bleed into the other in many places, making it impossible to tell exactly which trace had been original and which had been added later.

As he reached the far end of the room, he could feel that one of the chakra traces was markedly weaker, with the unsteadiness that indicated its user was nearing chakra exhaustion. Apparently, Umino had pushed himself to his limit in order to disrupt whatever that first pattern was meant for.

He had done it well, the Jounin had to admit. The pattern was useless, it would be impossible now to untangle the two chakras. Still… "Umino isn't known for his vast chakra stores" Kakashi muttered, speaking aloud to help him organize his thoughts.

"But he _is_ known for his control – and his understanding of theories. Whatever this was, he considered it dangerous enough to risk injury in order to stop, but either too dangerous or too complicated to undo. Umino, what the hell are you up to?"

-

The four met in their hotel room, some of Shino's 'allies' stationed in the hallways to make certain that they could not be eavesdropped upon. The four discussed their findings – very little. It was as if the townspeople didn't even want to mention the existence of 'ninjas'.

They bandied theories back and forth, mostly agreeing that the townspeople had probably had a bad experience with shinobi at some point. It was Hinata's comment, however, that caught Kurenai's attention.

"It's strange" the girl murmured, almost to herself. "They're especially protective of their children. I actually have only seen one or two kids, though I've seen signs that there are more."

Kurenai straightened. "Shino, send out some of your allies for me. I want to know just how many kids there are in this town, and more importantly, where they are." Shino held up a hand, allowing his insects to swarm from his sleeves and out of the window.

Kiba looked quizzically at his teacher. "Why is that important, sensei?"

The red-eyed woman shook her head, her expression thoughtful. "It may not be, Kiba. But we have to investigate every lead we have. And Hinata's right – now that I think about it, I _haven't_ seen very many children around here."

-

The work was finally finished for the day, each group lining up at the kitchens to wait for their supper. As the line moved on, a blonde haired teenager smiled at one of the workers as she filled his plate for him. "Tough day?" she asked, and the man sighed.

"A little. It'll be worth it, though."

The words brought a harsh laugh from behind him, and an older man slapped the younger on his shoulder. "That's right, things may be going wrong now, but they'll get a nasty shock once we're done."

Once the group moved on, Mai fixed two bowls, bringing one to a brown-haired boy calmly cutting potatoes in the back. Arata smiled at her as he accepted his bowl. The pair stepped out into the main dining room, aware that the man Mai had spoken with had been watching for them from across the room.

As the two teens sat down across from him, Iruka prayed silently. _'Please' _he thought, deliberately keeping his face and eyes calm, _'please let the Hokage send someone willing to hear me out. And strong.'_


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Okay, here we go. The pieces will start coming together now. I hope. Assuming this doesn't mutate any more than it already has... Seriously, ya'll let me know if this gets way weird, because it's changed so much that I'm basically flying blind now - the plot I had is utterly useless. Anyway, thank you all for your patience, and especially thank you to you reviewers: **iNsAnE nO bAkA, Julieanna333, Hiya120, Rangerfan58, Auphora66, Ally Plz, x-smith, KakashiKrazed, WhyMustIWrite, sadisticmasochist kitsune** and **Akumakami-Jada**

* * *

Kakashi retraced his way back to the surface, his expression thoughtful. He vaguely noted that he still had a little over an hour until sunset, but he returned to the town instead of setting up camp there at the lake. He decided that, this one night, he could afford to stay in the hotel, to conserve his rations until he could restock in the morning.

Thus far, he had been traveling based on word of mouth, but that trail had ended. Now he would have to start tracking in earnest, using his nin-ken to follow the younger man's scent. Because as many people as lived in this town, any tracks Umino would have left would be long gone by now. Besides, that pattern was something that the Hokage needed to know about – maybe she could order Jiraiya down there, he was good at seals and patterns and such – and he needed a good firm surface to write on if he was going to draw.

-

Iruka stepped warily into the building, making sure that only a slight confusion showed on his face as he carefully assessed for any possible threats. A rumbling laugh greeted him as he closed the door behind himself. Iruka smiled, tilting his head curiously as he regarded the man in front of him. "Is there something wrong, Heima-san? You called me away from work…?"

The older man waved a large hand negligently. "No, no, Isamu. Nothing's wrong. If anything, you've done very well. Not your fault we've got the worst luck." Iruka carefully forced himself not to tense at that statement, but the man went on with barely a glance at his subordinate. "That's why I want you to come to the meeting on Friday – I think it's time we let you in on a few of the plans around here. So you'll be excused from work that day. Just wanted to let you know that, so unless you have any questions, you can head on back out."

'Isamu' bowed respectfully. "No, sir. Thank you, sir; you do me a great honor."

-

Back in Kunruya, Amaya felt her heart clench as she caught sight of the visitors. The woman, Kurenai-san, sat calmly on her bench as she oversaw the children. The son, Shino-kun, sat beside her, the pair bowing dark heads close together as they quietly discussed some point or another. The rougher cousin, Kiba-kun, played with his puppy out in the park, the grin on his face charming in its boyish cheer.

But the daughter nearly broke Amaya's heart. She had seen little Hinata-chan – currently sitting on the ground, small fingers weaving flower chains as she hummed softly – around town. The girl always seemed to have a shy smile and a kind word for those around her, and willingly lent a hand to anyone who even seemed to need it. The boys were also helpful, and more than one person had commented on what good children all three of them were. And yet the little family remained completely unaware…

Amaya's face settled into a determined expression, though she faltered slightly when she approached the older woman. Kurenai smiled at her, and Shino nodded politely before standing and saying that he would pick up the rice to cook with their supper.

Once the boy had gathered his cousins and walked away, Amaya took a deep breath. "Kurenai-san, may I speak with you for a moment? Alone, please?"

The red-eyed woman looked at her for a moment, but seemed to understand that this was important. "Of course… Amaya-san, was it?"

-

The dying sunlight was not nearly enough to reach the now-broken lines drawn in the mud. But the torchlight was. The lines faintly glittered with residual power as a slight figure moved to step around them. An odd mixture of relief and satisfaction tinged the feminine voice as the figure spoke aloud. "It's deteriorating even faster. He was right – without the chakra flow to hold it together, it won't be long before the whole pattern is gone."

And then the torchlight reflected off of something new, something that shouldn't have been there. The figure stepped closer, heart clenching in sudden fear as blue eyes carefully compared the faint footprint against her own sandal. It was much bigger. White teeth caught on her lower lip, and a slightly trembling hand pushed brown hair back out of a pale face as she whispered. "Someone else has been here…"

-

In an old house far from the plotting or investigating, a small blond child stared mournfully out the window. Footsteps in the hall pulled the boy's attention away, and the toddler turned pleading brown eyes up to the older boy behind him. "Ruka-sensei back soon? Everybody back soon? Yes? Please?"

Eight year old Makoto sighed, pulling the smaller boy into a warm hug. "I hope so, Taro-chan. But come on, Kaya's got supper on the table, and they won't come any faster if we watch. We've just got to trust that they all know what they're doing."

-

With a short nod and a few insects left with Hinata, Shino, as promised, split away to buy rice. It wouldn't do to disrupt their cover over something so silly, even if the teens were all itching to know what that woman wanted to discuss with their teacher.

A shift of weight, a meeting of eyes and the two remaining Genin agreed – they needed somewhere a little more private to discuss the matter. Knowing that their teammate would meet them once his errand was completed, Kiba and Hinata made their way into the woods on the outer edges of the town.

Ever mindful of the fading light, the pair kept close to the roadway, but not too close. Kiba grumbled, snatching up small rocks and skipping them across the ground as he walked. Akamaru yipped, running after the little stones to try and amuse his sulking partner.

"I don't like it" the boy complained. "We can't wear our gear like we ought to while we're here, and… and something around here just isn't right. I don't like the feel of this place, and it _reeks_ of anger and fear. There's definitely something going on, and no only do we not know what, but we aren't equipped to handle it when we do find it!"

Hinata nodded her agreement. "I know, Kiba-kun. This place… it's almost like the people are holding their breath, waiting for something that they dread and despise. But no one is talking about it. I feel… I can't help but feel like we've walked into a trap. One set for anyone who finds it…"

"Exactly! It's like everything is waiting, and we're the idiots asking what we're waiting for."

-

As the Genin pair quietly vented their concerns and frustrations, they were being watched by a pair of calculating green eyes. _'Well well, what do we have here?'_ the observer thought. _'They… are __**not**__ civilians…'_


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N:** I'm BAA-AACK! Sorry for the long delay everyone, but I was out of state for a school conference then I had pre-finals assignments and now I'm in finals week. But after that I'm free. For all of four days. Anyway, I don't have another test until tomorrow, therefore I actually got a chance to write something besides schoolwork. So as always, thank you to all my patient readers, and especially to my reviewers: **iNsAnE nO bAkA, WhyMustIWrite, Rangerfan58, KakashiKrazed, singing ferret, Hiya120, TXJ, x-smith, kakashifan9, apathetica, Auphora66, yelluchicken** and **DarkRavie**. You all rock.

And sorry for the shortness of the chapter, but... I really do need to study. Just for a few more days. So those who are also reading Shinkirou, it'll be updated fairly soon, too. This weekend at the latest.

* * *

In the woods outside of the eastern border of Kunruya, a green-eyed figure tracked the two shinobi children as they ambled farther away from the town. His footsteps silent, the watcher silently debated how to resolve the situation. The two Genin were still venting, the boy nearly snarling and the girl adding the occasional softer comment. The puppy ran all over, sniffing at the ground and snapping at insects.

The watcher briefly wondered where the third Genin was. As the puppy ran to jump on his master, those sharp green eyes glanced down, a pale hand reaching up to momentarily grip the pendant hanging around his neck. When he looked back up, the girl and the puppy were gone. The Inuzuka boy – for that's all the wild child could be – was glaring right at his hiding place, kunai in hand. "Alright" Kiba called out, his voice challenging. "You might as well come out now – we know you're there, and Hinata and Akamaru have you flanked."

'_How…? Ah, forgot to take the puppy's nose into account'_ the watcher thought, a tiny smirk playing at his lips. _'Sensei will scold me all the way to Konoha proper when he finds out about this.'_ But the smirk dropped, and the watcher mentally tagged the other two's locations as he stepped out into view. _'Sloppy. Only partly trained, but it still took them that long to realize I was here… I expected better.'_

-

In Janga, another watcher was busy observing another Konoha shinobi, but Kakashi merely gave the little brunette a cheery smile and a wave as he caught the girl staring at him. He briefly wondered why the girl's face shifted into a confused – and worry tinged – frown, but he had too much work ahead of him to think long on one pony-tailed civilian child. Though he vaguely noted that, considering the way she moved, the girl must have had some form of martial arts training. Regardless, he had a report to write, and didn't have time to waste on a girl's fascination with his profession.

-

A half-hour after Kakashi had locked himself into his room, Jun settled into a small café for supper. The twelve year old's eyes were worried as she muttered to herself. "Why is a Konoha shinobi looking around here? If he's not here to finish breaking up the seal, then why isn't he helping Iruka-sensei and the others? Didn't he read Sensei's report?"

-

The woods were silent, as if everything were holding its' breath as the two Genin faced off their unknown tracker. The light fell in fading beams that dappled the forest floor with sun and shadow. But Hinata's eyes were locked on the figure stepping out to greet them. She withheld the Byakugan, not wanting to give away an advantage or drain her chakra if she didn't need to. So it was with some surprise that she realized their watcher was another teenager.

The boy had pale skin, and sharp green eyes looking out from underneath shaggy black bangs. The three children – and Akamaru, of course – stared at one another for a long moment, assessing the others. The boy had moved silently, like a shinobi, and his stance was balanced, but his clothes were civilian, and he moved in them as if it were what he was accustomed to wearing.

The Hyuuga heiress stepped out of the trees, and her suspicions were confirmed when the boy didn't even glance her way. He had known where she was. Finally Kiba broke the silence. "What are you?"

The boy smirked, and his answer caused her teammate to twitch violently. "Human."

Kiba growled. "Fine, smart-ass. Who are you?"

"Shin."

"That doesn't tell us anything!"

"Maybe you aren't asking the right questions."

Hinata found herself relaxing slightly as the boy continued to irritate Kiba - for all he was suspicious, he didn't seem to mean them harm. Hiding a small smile, the blue eyed girl spoke up. "What are you doing here in Kunruya, Shin-san?"

The boy glanced over at her and dipped his head in a small, respectful gesture before he spoke. "_That_ is a proper question, Hyuuga-san. I-" Just then, the boy froze in place, head snapping around and those green eyes going wide. Their internal alarms triggered, the Genin stretched out their senses as best that they were able.

Kiba heard it first, looking to the other boy in sharp query as he listened to the faint ringing sound of a bell. Hinata noticed that Shin's face had gone white, and then his eyes blazed with sudden determination. The boy turned back to the two teammates, his stance ready and his gaze suddenly hard. "Are you for or against them?" he asked.

Neither Genin allowed themselves to be taken aback by the abrupt edge in the other's voice, and Kiba responded as he would have to another shinobi. "Clarify."

"Kunruya's people – are you here to help them or condemn them?"

Neither Genin hesitated. "To help" Hinata replied.

"Then come with me. Hurry!" Without another word, the three teenagers and one small puppy raced back towards the southern edge of town.

-

Shino paused, holding up one hand and allowing a small number of his insects to land on his fingers. The stoic boy allowed a small frown to tug at his lips as his allies reported movement in the woodlands to the south of town. A fairly large party of people coming in was probably not unusual for a civilian town. A fairly large, _masked and armed_ party, however, certainly was. Deciding quickly, he sent a number of his allies to fetch his teacher and his teammates, and the Genin dropped his rice in the middle of the hall as he exited out of the window and raced south.

-

Amaya took a deep breath, trying vainly to calm her nerves. It always upset any of the town's people to talk about this. She jumped slightly when a gentle hand was laid on her shoulder, but smiled as the older woman's red eyes gave silent encouragement. Kurenai settled lightly on one of the benches in a more remote part of the park, patiently waiting for Amaya to gather her words. "You have to leave."

Red eyes blinked. "Excuse me?"

Amaya grasped the older woman's hands in her own, her tone nearly begging. "Please Kurenai-san, you have to take your children and leave. It isn't safe here, we can't protect them!"

Kurenai tugged her hands out of Amaya's, placing them instead on the younger woman's shoulders as she tried to calm the other. "Amaya-san, please. You have to calm down. Safe from what? What do the children need protecting from? Amaya, what is going on around here?"

But the civilian never got the chance to answer, as an explosion lit up the darkening woods on the southern edge of town. Amaya instinctively shut her eyes as the sound washed over the town, and when she opened them again, Kurenai had vanished.


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N:** I... don't like this chapter, actually. It's just not working out the way I wanted - I feel like it's too dry, if that makes sense. Seems like the quality of this story's writing just keeps going downhill, and I can't seem to fix it. Maybe it's just me. Don't worry though, I'm not dropping it, I'm just not real happy with it right now.

Anyway, thank you to readers, and especially to reviewers: ** DarkRavie, Rangerfan58, iNsAnE nO bAkA, KakashiKrazed, WhyMustIWrite** and **Julieanna333**

* * *

Kiba and Hinata raced after the mysterious 'Shin', casting one another a breifly startled glance as the boy easily kept pace with the two young shinobi. The boy kept to the ground, while the Genin ran along the branches, but his speed was as great as theirs. The three weaved among the trees, Akamaru peeking out from Kiba's jacket as they ran for the southern edge of Kunruya.

As the teens burst into a small clearing, the Genin pair automatically pulled their kunai – and just as automatically flanked their stalker as he faced off with fourteen masked, armed men. Shin's voice was steady, a hard edge underlying his words as he challenged the strangers. "Enough. You won't pass by us – we won't let you hurt anyone else here."

The men looked at the three teenagers, and one threw back his head and laughed. "I think that we have a couple of little wanna-be heroes here, boys. What do you say, do we walk?" The man's tone sent off all of their alarms, and so all three of the teens relaxed, keeping their muscles loose in order to conserve energy.

There was a tense moment where it seemed like no one so much as breathed, and then an eruption of chaos. There was a brief sense of confusion, but then they accepted the fact that the masked men were the enemy. Especially when they blocked the shuriken that were flung at their faces. The three instinctively spread out, breaking up to surround the group. At that moment, it didn't even occur to Kiba and Hinata to wonder how Shin knew shinobi battle command gestures – although it would later.

But for the moment, all they were concerned with were the weapons being drawn against them.

-

Shino arrived at the southern edge of town just in time to see Hinata use a kunai to knock a shuriken out of the air – and flinch when the tag wrapped around the enemy weapon exploded. Because he knew her – knew how sensitive her bloodline ability made her eyes – he knew that the girl was momentarily blinded. But he also knew that she had been trained to fight despite that brief instant of weakness, so he focused on sending his allies against one of the enemies as he engaged another.

In moments, he and the other two – '_three?_' – teenagers had the men incapacitated. The three Genin looked at each other in confusion – the adults had been subdued far too easily. But just as Shino was about to demand an explanation, a flare of powerful chakra demanded their attention.

-

A few days' travel away, Kakashi finally stepped out of his room. After nearly three hours of struggling to get the diagram of that pattern just right, he had finally been satisfied with it. And of course, the report accompanying it took all of about ten minutes. He sent off his report with one of his dogs, and took himself down to the nearest diner to indulge in one more hot meal before he resigned himself to trail rations.

As he dug into his meal, a familiar face caught his eye and he smiled at the young mother he had encountered the day before. The woman gave him a returning nod as she moved towards the door, but then she turned back and spoke to him. "Shinobi-san, did Umino-san's sister ever get in touch with you?"

Kakashi shook his head, just tired enough to be more focused on his food at first, but then his mind cleared sharply as the woman's words registered. "Wait, his sister?!" _'Umino doesn't __**have**__ a sister, so who…?'_ the Copy Ninja's thoughts raced as he attempted to fit this new piece into his analysis.

Unaware of his thoughts, the woman continued. "Yes, um, let me think… Jun, I think she said her name was. She's a cute little girl, about twelve, brown hair pulled back."

Kakashi was at the woman's side in an instant, leaving his food forgotten on the table. "Blue eyes?" he questioned intently, his mind instinctively focusing on the child who had been watching him earlier. Before the mother could even finish nodding, Kakashi was out of the door. He had a girl to find, and more than a few questions to ask. His heart beat faster, and a smile graced his lips underneath the black mask.

_'One step closer'_ he thought in anticipation. _'One big step in finding Umino, and figuring out just what exactly is going on here.'_

-

Kurenai dropped into the clearing, red eyes taking in the masked men lying in various stages of unconsciousness or bindings, and then flitted over her students, checking for any injuries. Finding none, the Jounin turned her attention to the fourth person still standing amidst the injured – a strange black-haired boy holding a kunai like he was trained with them. Deeming him to be of little threat – and likely an ally, considering that he had apparently been helping her students – she spoke to her Genin as she stepped to help them tie up their enemies. "Team 8, report."

Kiba, as usual, was the first to speak. "Hinata and I were walking in the eastern woods when we encountered Shin." Here the boy jerked a thumb in the stranger's direction. "We, uh, got off on the wrong foot at first. But then bells went off, and we followed him here. He told these guys to leave, that they wouldn't be allowed to hurt anyone else, and then we were attacked and responded appropriately."

Red eyes flicked to Hinata, and the Hyuuga heiress nodded her agreement with the report.

Shino added his own account next. "My allies reported an armed party moving towards the town. I believed this to be suspicious, and moved to observe. Upon arrival, I found a battle in progress. Between the four of us, the enemy was quickly incapacitated."

Kiba scowled. "Yeah, they went down really easily. What kind of shinobi are these guys?"

"They're not." All eyes turned to Shin as the boy scoffed, pulling the binds on one man's wrists tighter. "The shinobi are long gone, these guys are just thugs hired to pose as shinobi and keep the villagers quiet. Honestly, didn't you even _read_ the report?"

A long moment of silence made the boy look up at the four shinobi. Kurenai simply arched one brow. "What report?"

-

Iruka looked up as a pair of sandals entered his vision. Giving a smile to the blonde girl standing just outside of his hammer-swing range, he straightened up, wiping the sweat off of his face as he set down his tool. "Mai-san, is there something I can do for you?" He gave his foundling a questioning look, making sure to keep from seeming too familiar with the teen. After all, 'Isamu' had only met her on the road just before joining this place.

The fifteen year old bowed, her voice respectful – but Iruka knew her well enough to detect the slight tinge of worry in her green eyes. "Heima-sama says that plans have changed. You're to come in early for supper – I'm supposed to say that you're leaving tonight instead of tomorrow…?"

Iruka fought to keep his voice level and his smile casual, knowing that the pair had caught the attention of the other workers nearby. "Oh, okay. Thank you, Mai-san. I'll just go wash up first, and then I'll be right over." As he turned away, Iruka couldn't help but worry himself.

_'What could have changed?'_ he wondered. _'Something tells me that this isn't good… and I'll be leaving the kids here by themselves while I'm gone. Damn it, Tsunade-sama, where __**is**__ that backup I requested?!'_


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N:** I'm so sorry it took so long, but the story went on strike! Anyway, it's back now, and I'm not nearly as disappointed with this chapter as I was with the last one. I actually kind of like parts of it again, and that's a huge relief to me. Guess I just needed to give it a break. Anyway, thank you to everyone who's being so very patient with me, especially: **Rangerfan58, DarkRavie, iNsAnE nO bAkA, KakashiKrazed, Julieanna333, WhyMustIWrite, Hiya120, sadisticmasochistkitsune, ShiroLight **and **InARealPickle.**

And just for anyone who doesn't know: a 'gopher' in my area can also refer to an errand runner because he has to "go-for" things.

* * *

All the way back in Konoha, a hesitant knock sounded on the Hokage's office doors. Heaving a sigh, Tsunade called for the knocker to enter, carefully hiding the irritation in her voice. And then she scowled. "Damnit, Shizune, what is it now? I'm _doing_ the paperwork, what else do you want?!"

The younger woman hesitated, but then she lifted her chin and walked in with a very familiar dog on her heels. The Godaime raised one eyebrow. "Another of Hatake's mutts? What's going on now - is he requesting something else?"

"Well actually, he's asking us to have a seal specialist look at a diagram he re-created, but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about, Tsunade-sama. I think we may have a problem much bigger than - and possibly even related to - Umino-san's dissappearance."

Curious now, Tsunade gestured for her assistant to close the doors and take a seat while she moved aside some of the mounds of papers sitting on top of her desk. Once they were both settled, Tsunade folded her hands under her chin. "Alright, explain. Now."

Taking a deep breath, the younger medic reached into one of the many piles of papers and - unnerringly, the blonde noticed with a flash of irritation - pulled out a map of the Fire Country. The two women worked for an instant to spread the map out on the desktop, and then Shizune looked her mentor directly in the eye. "Hokage-sama, I believe that our field teams' updates are being intercepted."

Eyes narrowing, Tsunade released a long, slow breath. "And you have come to this conclusion... how?" Shizune pulled a small scroll out of one of her sleeve pockets, handing it over as she pointed out a specific stretch of the map.

"Initially, I didn't notice anything wrong. Most of the missions in that area are minor, not important enough to monitor closely. However, when Hatake-san's second report came in this morning, I realized that Team 8 had yet to report even arriving at their target location. Believing that there must have been a filing error, I began looking through reports received in the last two weeks. When I realized that there was nothing lately, I became concerned and looked farther back in time. What I found was..."

The younger woman twisted her sleeve in her fingers, clearly upset. "Tsunade-sama, the only reports we have received from this area in the past two and a half months are from Hatake-san, and I believe that we only received those because he sent them via his nin-dogs."

Tsunade reached out, wordlessly pulling a cord to signal one of the Chunin pair assigned to... be her errand boys, since she had forgotten their original purpose. Izumo quickly poked his head into the office, only to catch the scroll tossed at said body part. "Gopher, take that to Jiraiya, you'll probably find him near the women's baths."

The man ducked out, muttering under his breath. "Go for this, go for that... remind me again why we don't we assign Genin for this?" His partner just shrugged, not having an answer for that himself.

Until their leader's voice called out. "And Izumo, Kotetsu - gather the availible Jounin and ANBU while you're out." Straightening, the two men cast each other startled looks and then flashed out, much more serious than a moment before.

-

Kakashi searched throughout the town, but he could not find any trace of the child he sought. _'Oh, come __**on**__!' _he thought, once again fighting the urge to grind his teeth in frustration. _'How hard can it be to find __**one**__ little girl? I just saw her a few hours ago!'_ As he reached the outskirts of Janga, the glint of water caught his eye, and inspiration struck. _'Wait, she was watching me, so... could she know about that place? She only tried to approach me after I got back from there, so maybe..._'

Now that he knew where it was, it only took the Jounin a few minutes to reach the hidden cave with the speeds at which he could travel. And surely enough, when he arrived, he found a dark haired girl standing in front of the entrance. He jumped down from the trees, mildly surprised that the girl was not startled by his sudden appearance.

The two studied each other for a long moment, Copy Ninja and preteen facing off. Finally, Kakashi broke the silence. "Officially, Umino doesn't have any sisters."

The girl gave him a reserved smile. "Officially. So, Kakashi-san, why aren't you helping Iruka-sensei?"

"I would if I knew where he is."

Kakashi felt something go still inside of him when his light words brought a horrified expression to the girl's face. "You mean... the Hokage hasn't gotten our reports?! Konoha doesn't know?!"

Suddenly, it wasn't Kakashi-the-slightly-perverted that the girl was facing, but Kakashi-the-former-ANBU. "Doesn't know what?"

-

Iruka walked quietly, working harder than ever to keep his anxiety hidden as the group moved beyond the point where they could hear the voices and hammer blows from the worksite. He struggled to keep his steps to the slow, unbalanced plod of a common working man when all of his instincts wanted him to move smoothly and silently, weight balanced to be able to react instantly.

However, while the men with him were not shinobi themselves, the leader of the group had spent enough time around the proffession that he would recognize the shift.

But it was hard; harder than anything else he'd done on this mission. The shinobi in him wanted to be ready to fight - the tactician in him knew to keep his cover. But most difficult of all was the teacher, the brother and substitute father in him - that was _demanding_ that he run back and get his 'children' out of this place _right **now**_.

But he had to wait, and to trust in his Hokage and his comrades.

-

Under the trees bordering Kunruya, however, the fading light was not yet dim enough to hide the three Genin's startled expressions. Kurenia held up one slender hand, silencing her team as they all looked to the strange shinobi-like boy standing among them.

Shin, for his part, looked at them in barely consealed shock. "What do you mean, 'what report'? You... you really _didn't_ read it?!"

Team 8's leader shook her head, never losing eye contact with the boy. "Not only did we not read it, we never got it in the first place. All we received was our comrade's report that something in this town was wrong and needed investigating. But if you have more information...?"

The boy blinked a few more times, but to his credit the teen pulled himself together almost immediately. "Alright, to put it breifly: nine weeks ago, a small band of shinobi - four visible, probably about Chunin rank from the descriptions we could get - showed up without warning and abducted a lot of the local children. They used more genjutsu then anything else, Sensei says it's probably because it _scared_ the civilians without causing any actual _damage_ that could be tracked."

Kurenia reminded herself to question the boy on this 'Sensei' later - right now the town was what was important, so she let him continue. "They raided the town two more times in three weeks, and then things were quiet for a few days. The people started getting restless, wanting to send messengers to Konoha and ask for help. That's when these guys started showing up. They hit three times in the last five weeks, pretending to be shinobi and scaring the people into being compliant."

By now, Kiba and Akamaru were growling softly, and even Shino's allies buzzed restlessly with their master's anger. Hinata was pale, but her fists were clenched at her sides. But all three held their tongues, allowing their teacher to speak for the team. "Shin, do you have any clues as to the fates of the stolen children?"

The boy hesitated, but he finally shrugged halfheartedly. "Yes, and no. We know that at least one of them is dead, probably two. Sensei left me here because he sent a report to Konoha - I was actually just supposed to brief you all on any further developments, but when you didn't reveal yourselves, I thought maybe you weren't the team I was waiting for. So I watched and waited."

Kurenai nodded. "An understandable precaution, especially if the enemy is impersonating shinobi."

With a rather professional nod, the teenager finished his report. "Regardless, Sensei traced the kidnappers to a town called Janga, and found a hidden seal written in blood believed to belong to at least one of the missing. He did his best to neutralize the seal - and yes, Hatake-san _is_ aware of the seal, although he doesn't seem to know any more about it than I do - and left a comrade of mine to watch over the area. He's trying to track the kidnappers and gather information... but Kurenai-san, Sensei believes that there are Konoha shinobi on their way to back him up. He doesn't know he's in this on his own."

Finally breaking the Genin's silence, Kiba cursed.

-

Jiraiyas glanced up as the Chunin flashed himself onto the writer's front porch, mildly interested as to why Tsunade's errand boy was standing on his steps. When the younger man thrust a scroll into his hands, the blurted explination only made him even more interested. "Hokage-sama wants you to look at this, and then come see her. She's gathering Jounin and higher level shinobi." And the young man flashed out again.

Setting aside his... work... Jiraiya curiously opened the scroll. He glanced down at the diagram - and the Toad Sage of the Sannin paled.


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: **Okay, not much happens in this chapter (or the next one, really) but they've got most of the pieces, so right now they just have to get together.

Anyway, thanks go out to:** iNsAnE nO bAkA, WhyMustIWrite, Rangerfan58, Julieanna333, KakashiKrazed, Hiya120, DarkRavie, harlanbabe, jazzy, Auphora66, 24sakura, InARealPickle **and **rogue solus.** Congratulations go out to **The Laughing Phoenix** for being the first (that I know of) to accurately guess the purpose of the seal.

* * *

Tsunade jerked her head up, her eyes narrowing as she heard footsteps racing down the corridor. Every eye in the meeting room turned to the door as it burst open, hands reaching quickly for weapons. "Stand down" their Hokage barked, recognizing the wild white hair of her former teammate. "Jiraiya, what the hell were you thinking?! You almost got yourself skewered just now! You... _what's wrong_?!"

The various Jounin and ANBU - who had released their weapons on their leader's command - tensed up again. Tsunade paid them no attention as she stood and personally hustled the Toad Sage into a chair, running a quick diagnostic jutsu despite his protest, smacking him upside his head to shut him up while she worked. The blonde stepped back, hands settling on her hips as she glared. "Okay, you aren't injured, so why are you so pale? And shaky?"

The man offered her a scroll, swallowing heavily as she opened the paper to reveal the diagram Kakashi had copied from that cave he had found. She absently passed it to the Jounin nearest to her, allowing the gathered shinobi to study and pass on the paper while her stare silently demanded answers from Jiraiya. Taking another deep breath, as if to steady himself, the white haired man finally gave them.

"It's a summoning seal. Calls forth a... hydra, for lack of a better word. Big, poisonous, multi-headed thing. It requires a massive amount of chakra to activate the seal, much more than one person's body can hold. You have to have six of them, so it's not feasible for use in most situations, but... if it was written in blood - if someone was willing to sacrifice enough lives - then theoretically, they could summon the thing."

No murmurs were heard - every shinobi in the room was focussed on the seal expert's words - but quick glances were exchanged among Konoha's soldiers. Tsunade's lips thinned, a brief expression of displeasure before she spoke again, her tone calmly calculating. "And if this... hydra thing... were summoned, what kind of damage potential would we be looking at? S-class? Akatsuki level? Jinchuuriki level?"

Jiraiya's face was still pale, his eyes strangely haunted. "Tsunade... think borderline Kyuubi..."

A long moment of utter silence, and then the Godaime's voice broke the stillness. "You lot, deploy along the walls. The rest of you, arm yourselves. You move out in ten."

-

Team 8 moved quickly, quietly, racing headlong through the trees. Kurenai glanced down, noting almost incredulously that the boy, Shin, was still keeping pace with them despite moving on the ground. Granted, her pace was slowed to allow her Genin to keep up, but still...

The woman shook off her thoughts, refocussing on her mission. She had to catch up with Kakashi - Shin had said that one of his 'sisters' had reported that the Copy Ninja was in Janga - and inform him of this development. Umino was in trouble, and probably needed help. The false shinobi had been bound and left with the villagers until they could be brought to the Fire Daimyo - or Konoha - for trial, and now her team would aid Kakashi in backing their comrade up.

She just hoped that two Jounin and - counting the boy - four Genin would be enough.

-

Iruka sighed softly, partly to keep up appearances, but mostly in honest relief as the group made camp for the evening. One of the older members of the group grinned, reaching out to lightly punch the younger man's arm. "Geez, Isamu, the pace wasn't _that_ hard. Man, if this is tough for you, then be glad that you're just a worker - you'd _never_ make it as a fighter. But don't worry, all you'll have to do is help get the juggernaught rolling, and then you can sit back while the rest of us herd the hydra."

Iruka smiled, knowing that the expression showed how sick the thought made him feel, but also knowing that the men would assume that it was due to the thought of having to fight. Which, technically, it was. Just not for the reasons that they all thought. He was supposed to feel ill because he couldn't fight, but really... he trembled at the idea of his comrades, his _students_, facing a monster like the hydra.

As he settled down for the night, he prayed silently yet again. _'Please, everyone... hurry.'_

-

Kakashi paced in his hotel room, mentally cursing the fading light that made it impossible to set out immediately. Jun had pointed him in the direction that Umino had gone, but as a shinobi, the man would likely stay among the trees. And Kakashi's dogs weren't very good at tracking old trails, in the dark, in the treetops. So as much as he would have loved to immediately begin tracking the Chunin, he had to wait.

But as he finally finished his interrupted supper, Kakashi promised himself that, the moment the sun began to rise, he would be moving.

-

A few miles away from the base Iruka had left earlier in the day, a teenage girl fretted silently. She stroked the nose of one of a pair of horses, quieting the creature as it fidgeted. Repressing a sigh, sixteen year old Ai stepped up to the entrance of her shelter, glancing out through the branches that consealed the area from hostile eyes. Unable to do anything else, Ai checked - for the hundredth time in the last three weeks - to make sure that the wheels of the flatbed wagon were well greased and properly tightened.

Giving in to the sigh, she sat on the back of the wagon, flipping open the pages of a book that she had read four times since Sensei and her siblings had set up this camp. _'You know'_ she thought _'I think I'd rather be undercover with Arata, Mai and Sensei. I know it's important to evacuate the stolen kids, but this waiting is for the birds.'_

-

As night fell across the Fire Country, darkly clad figures moved among the trees, making no more noise than the light breeze through the leaves. The shinobi glanced at one another as they ran, carefully placed footsteps finding the most stable route within the branches. The collection of Jounin followed the ANBU's lead, each member of the group solemnly holding a fast, steady pace.

_'Hang on, Kakashi'_ Jiraiya thought. _'Whatever happens, __**please**__, don't let anyone near that seal. If we can keep even __**one**__ from activating, then we can keep that monster from coming into our world. Whoever interrupted that seal did very well, but it can still be repaired. Please, __**don't**__ let that happen.'_


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay, everyone. My only excuse is that I've been trying to catch up on canon Naruto (anime, cause my computer doesn't like loading the manga) so that I can have a working basis for the characters for my next story. But anyway, thanks go out to: **Rangerfan58, Hiya120, iNsAnE nO bAkA, Auphora66, InARealPickle, DarkRavie, Julieanna333, harlanbabe, The-Lady-Smaell, kirallie, The Laughing Phoenix, lady sakura cosmos **and **tearfularcher**.

* * *

As dawn's earliest light began to filter into the trees, Kakashi stretched, letting his muscles warm slowly. Gathered around him, his pack of nin-dogs did the same, tongues lolling as they yipped and stretched. After only a few moments, the silver haired Jounin grinned, a sharp whistle calling his dogs to order.

The man tossed a grin and a wave to the brown-haired girl standing a few feet away, and then the Copy Ninja and his pack took to the treetops. Noses to the bark, his dogs led the way, and Kakashi marked it on the off chance that another ally was on the way._ 'Just hold on, Umino-san.'_ Kakashi thought, mentally willing the younger man to be alright. _'I'm on my way, so just lay low for a little while longer.'_

-

Miles away from Janga, on a small game trail leading towards Konoha two men were breaking up a small hunter's camp. As they loaded their gear into their wagon, the third member of their party stumbled into camp, his hair wet and his face a little green. The two older men laughed as the boy looked around in confusion. "Um, why are we breaking camp?"

One of the two men shook his head, eyes glinting with mischief. "If you hadn't insisted that you could drink as much as us last night, you'd remember. But we got word that our job is done, we can pack up and go home."

The young trapper blinked a few times, surprise written across his face. "Oh, but... what about the birds? Trained ones like that are pretty expensive, I'd think that guy'd want 'em back, especially since he's already paid us to re-capture them for him. Isn't he coming for them?" The boy gestured to the wagon, indicating the cages holding a number of hawks that the team had captured, blindfolded and tressed to their perches.

But the second of the two men only shook his head. "Message said that he changed his mind, he doesn't want them after all. Said we could keep them if we wanted." The three trappers shared exhasperated glances for an instant, but then they shrugged and went about their business.

Had they known what to look for, however, it would have terrified them all to find the small Leaf Village symbol tatooed underneath the messenger hawks' right wings.

-

Only an hour or so past dawn, a five-man team stopped just outside of the small town of Janga. Kurenai smiled breifly at the four teenagers beside her. "We made good time" she told them.

Shin looked at her as if she had suddenly grown another head. "We knew where we were going" he retorted, as if it were incredible that she did not consider this before she spoke.

The kunoichi didn't have to respond - Kiba smacked the boy for her. "Just shut up and take a compliment already, stupid" the young tracker muttered.

Unfortunately, she didn't have the luxury of allowing the boys to bicker. "Enough, Kiba. Shin, can you contact your sister quickly?" The green-eyed boy nodded, immediately leading the group into the little town. The group wove their way through streets until they reached a small inn, and their temporary guide stepped inside to speak with the innkeeper for a moment. A few seconds later, and the boy held up one hand in their direction, silently asking them to wait as he followed the older man down one of the halls.

Little less than a moment longer and the boy was back, followed by a braided girl about a year younger than the Genin. "You just missed Kakashi-san by about two hours" the girl told them as she stepped outside. "He went west, following Iruka-sensei's general direction. He said that he was going to mark the trail, so if you hurry you should be able to catch up to him."

Shin spoke up next, almost taking the words out of Kurenai's mouth. "I'll stay here with Jun; the last thing you all need is to try and watch out for an unknown fighter in an uncertain situation."

A brief nod and a quick 'see you later' were given to the two civilian children before Team 8 took to the treetops again. It didn't take long to find the Copy Ninja's directional marks, and the team sped their pace.

-

As the sun climbed ever higher in the sky, the Jounin and ANBU from Konoha never faltered in their pace, even going so far as to eat their rations as they moved. Jiraiya, at the ANBU leader's request, moved among the shinobi group, explaining the seal and how it could be repaired - or neutralized. The warriors listened carefully, mentally taking note of the easiest ways for the enemy - whoever they were - to use the seals against them.

A number of them wanted to spread out, to seek out the other five seals, but they all knew better than to split their forces that far when they were walking into an unknown situation. No, the Toad Sage had assured them all that if they could keep one of the six seals from activating, then their hidden enemy could not possibly complete the summoning. They would just have to believe that the seal expert knew what he was talking about.

-

Team 8 finally caught up with Kakashi not long after noon - about one thirty, judging by the position of the sun. They found him kneeling on a high branch, his pack gathered around him and his fingers running lightly over a small, almost unnoticable mark in the bark. The silver haired man did not acknowledge the Genin, but he did motion Kurenai over. "The trail branches - the scent is heavier to the north, but fresher to the west. So he's gone west most recently, but spent far more time lately in the north. And then there's this - what do you think?" the man asked, gesturing briefly at the mark in question.

The red eyed woman studied it for an instant, and her lips turned up slightly in amusement. "Trust Iruka to use a common technique in an odd way. I don't think I've ever seen a signal marking on the top of a branch, but then most people don't expect to step on what they're looking for. Pretty clever, actually - with the curve of the branch, we wouldn't see it unless we looked directly down, and by the time most shinobi would land here they'd already be looking ahead for the next branch to move to."

"Still, you're reading what I am, right? Allies standing by?"

As the two adults' voices lowered to a murmur, Kiba ducked his head, whispering to his fellow Genin. "What you wanna bet this ally's another kid?"

Hinata nodded, and Shino actually spoke. "Likely. Sensei does seem to have a number of juvenile allies that we were unaware of."

Kiba rolled his eyes, causing Hinata to bite back a soft giggle. "You could've just said yes."

All three teens turned their attention back to the adults when their team leader turned to them. "Team 8, your mission has changed. I will be accompanying Hatake-san to retrieve Umino. The three of you and Akamaru are going to seek out this ally of Umino's, and then you will work with that individual until you receive further orders. Do you understand?"

Three young voices responded eagerly. "Yes, ma'am." A brief moment to allow Akamaru to find the scent that the older nin-dogs had been following, and the two groups split up, the teenagers going north as the adults moved west.

-

Back in Janga, Jun fidgeted nervously, much to Shin's annoyance. "Come on, Jun, quit. Sensei'd have your hide if he knew that you couldn't hold your vigil. We've only been here for a few hours, for crying out loud."

The younger girl huffed, but she settled back down. "I know, but I've never liked being underground, and that seal is giving me the creeps. Remind me again, _why_ can't we keep watch from _outside_ the creepy cave?"

Shin turned troubled eyes towards the entrance to the cavern, his voice low as he answered her. "I just... I have a bad feeling about today, Jun. Sensei told you to keep an eye on that seal, and my gut tells me that we need to stay close to it today."

The two children were quiet for a little longer, and then Jun suddenly tensed. Shin turned to ask her what was wrong, but the brunette held up one hand. Green eyes met suddenly nervous blue, and the girl mouthed silently. _'Did you hear that?'_ Using all of the stealth he had learned, Shin crept towards the front of the cave, peering out cautiously.

His eyes widened, and he scrambled back towards the smaller girl, nearly hissing directly in her ear. "Shinobi, and they've got three tied-up kids with them."

-

Iruka's 'team' finally stopped. Iruka spotted the low camoflagued entry before they stopped, but he made sure to express surprise when it was 'revealed' to him. After all, the role he was playing would not have seen the hillside door if he had walked right past it. As his older companions snickered, he followed them into the underground building, unease growing with every step he took.

The building was in good repair, with soft white tile laid along the floor and warmly-colored pictures hung on the wooden walls. But it was unfamiliar, and it was enclosed, and Iruka had no way to know how big it was or how many people it held. Regardless, his companions kept moving, leading him into a large meeting room dominated by a U-shaped table. Conversation in the room lulled for a moment as eyes turned to the newcomers, but then it picked up again as his companions were recognized.

Iruka was pointed to a chair at the bridge of the U, and he quietly began memorizing faces and voices for future reference. Until a man with a long, wavy black ponytail turned, and he spotted one face that made his blood run cold. Nakuru Joji was a face printed every year in the Bingo books, the Jounin having become known for his ruthless, bloody 'games' that generally brought about the destruction of entire small towns. But more importantly, _he was from Konoha._ The man had turned in mission reports to Iruka for months before going rogue!

Just as Iruka's mind started forming a plausible excuse to leave the room, dark brown eyes slid over him - and snapped back. Iruka saw the recognition, the building anger in those eyes, and the Chunin did the only thing he could at that point.

He bolted.


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N:** I'm SO sorry! I told some of you that I'd have this up by Sunday, and it wasn't. But I had relatives drop in over the weekend for my b'day, and then tests. It's done now though. And, umm... you're all going to hate me for this chapter. But I promise I won't make you wait as long for the next one!

So, thank you's to: **Rangerfan58, The-Lady-Smaell, iNsAnE nO bAkA, x-smith, kirallie, KakashiKrazed, Julieanna333, Auphora66, deil, tearfularcher, harlanbabe, Houkakyou, Tara La'Quinn, NaTsUkO-ChAn, WhyMustIWrite, rogue solus, hieiashke, romantiscue** and **melissa.

* * *

**

Iruka ran, automatically regulating his breathing to maximize efficiency. His heartbeat thundered in his ears, almost drowning out the footsteps behind him - but not the shouts of alarm and anger, or the siren that split the air. The teacher zigzagged, hoping against hope that he could escape the suffocating corridors of the compound.

He took a right turn too sharply, his feet sliding just a fraction of an inch, shoulder slamming into the corner and sending him careening into the opposite wall. The clumsy slip saved his life. Iruka dropped to the ground, eyes automatically flinching closed as the lightning jutsu blasted the corner that he had just hit, starting a pillar of fire where the insulation had overheated.

Heart jumping, Iruka braced his feet against the wall and _shoved_, sliding under the smoke and still-sparking fire. Scrambling back to his feet, tanned hands slammed together in a quick, Chunin-level jutsu - and a rush of force fanned the fire, billowing smoke back into his pursuers' faces. But the Chunin was already turning away once he completed the last seal, and could only hope that the coughing and cursing behind him meant that his improvised ploy had delayed them.

A whisper in the back of his mind wondered where the Jounin was, but Iruka forced it back. Either the man was close or not - regardless, Iruka was almost unarmed and trapped in hostile territory. And more footsteps were coming from another hallway.

-

Mai snapped out of her doze, eyes widening as people began rushing in an organized chaos throughout the worksite. Arata grabbed the blonde's elbow, the older teen's voice low and worried. "Some radio transmission came in that's got them all upset, but... Something's gone wrong, we need to act now." With a nod, the two teenagers strode into the hallway, acting as if under orders and hoping that it would turn out alright.

-

Shin regulated his breathing, keeping it deep and slow as he locked eyes with Jun. The two kids waited, hearts pounding as their senses strained for a hint of their opponents' positions. The first of the strange shinobi - and the pair had no doubt that these w_ere_ shinobi - stepped arrogantly into the mouth of the cavern - and right into the children's trap.

The teenager pulled a small string, and he and his younger sister silently prayed that the hastily rigged combination of Shin's matches, some strips of their shirts and Jun's air freshener spray could create a big enough fireball to catch the man. Luckily for them, it did. Unluckily, he was faster than their little fire trap, and was only lightly singed before he jumped away. One of the strangers shoved the bound civilian children to the side, and the group spread out into battle formations.

Iruka's 'younger siblings' shared an eloquently expressive glance, not needing words to communicate their message. _'Shit.'_

-

Team 8's Genin ran lightly after Akamaru, their pace quick but nearly effortless for them - until the puppy pulled up abruptly. The three dropped onto the branch beside the little nin-dog, who promptly leaned up against Kiba and whined. The wild-eyed teen leaned forward, neck extended a little oddly as he sniffed at the air. His eyes widened as a gust of wind puffed into his face, and then turned to his silent teammates.

Hinata spoke first, her soft voice hushed but not fearful. "What is it, Kiba-kun? Is there something ahead of us?"

The young tracker nodded, his manner calm but his eyes slightly confused. "There's something going on up there, guys. Something with a lot of worked-up people. Akamaru and I are getting the scents of sweat, fear and excitement even from here."

Shino spoke last, his calm manner anchoring the group. "I do not detect any powerful chakra traces - do you?" A negative gesture from both of his teammates brought out the last of his words. "Then, do we continue?" Each of the Genin looked the others in the eye - or the sunglasses, in Shino's case - and then, without another gesture or word, jumped off of their branch and moved faster then before.

-

Kunruya's stolen children shifted uneasily as they heard footsteps in the corridor. Long gone was the time when they would bang on the bars of their cells, shouting to be let go. Those days had ended right about the time that two of the most vocal of them had been killed right in front of the others, their blood used to draw on the ground of the lakeside cave as it flowed from their throats. So now, they shied away, scuttling back into corners and watching with wide, fearful eyes as the door to their cells opened.

They, as a group, blinked in surprise to find a blonde teenager darting her gaze over them. "Come on, everyone." she urged, her voice low and hurried. "We're here to get you all out, now let's go." There was a moment of hesitation, of indecion and distrust, but then one of the little ones inched towards the older girl. When the child crossed the doorway without harm, it was as if a floodgate had opened, and silent children hurried after their rescuer and the older boy who fell in behind them.

Long minutes later, the group darted from cover to cover as they worked their way towards the forest. Only one quick run, and they would finally be free of the work site. Mai turned back momentarily, tossing a reassuring grin to the children cowering behind her - and a rough hand flashed out and snatched her elbow. Some of the youngest ones screamed as the foreman stepped around from the other side of the crate pile that they had been hiding behind, his voice cruel as he shook the slender teenager in his grasp.

"When we got the word that Isamu - or whatever the hell his name really is - was Konoha, I thought you brats might be traitors too. So I took precautions." At the man's ominous words, a number of other grown men stepped out into view, most holding axes or pipes or other weaponry in their hands. Mai and Arata looked each other in the eye, and then... Mai fell, letting herself become dead weight as she dropped towards the ground and pulled her attacker off balance.

Even as she kicked out, knocking her opponent's feet out from underneath him, she heard her brother shout at the children to run, and from the corner of her eyes she saw him slam his hands together in a _very_ familiar pattern. A simple fire jutsu, one of the first that Konohan shinobi students learned, swept forward, clearing a path for the little ones as the adults jumped out of the way of the blast.

The recently freed prisoners bolted for the forest, and the two teenagers moved to place themselves between the armed adults and the fleeing children.

-

Mind racing, the teacher turned a corner and reached out, snatching hold of a partially opened door and using the momentum to both fling open the door and swing himself around. One hand still gripping the knob, Iruka threw three sharp chakra-strengthened side kicks - low kick destroying the bottom hinge and then shoving off of the kick to add speed and force to break the upper hinge. Even as he chambered his leg for the third kick - a power side kick, right knee snapped up to almost hit left ribs, allowing for the most possible power from a standing position - he released the doorknob, hands again forming seals.

His kick sent the door flying just as his hands formed the final seal, and just as more of his opponents - _'how many of them __**are**__ there, anyway?'_ - entered the stretch of hallway. Two techniques, fire and force. The kick shattered the glass window in the door, the fire melting the shards and igniting the wood - and the force technique added momentum, sending burning splinters and molten glass into the faces of his enemies.

Again the teacher ran, feeling the drain on his strength from the chakra-consuming force techniques. But this time, he could finally see his goal. Iruka burst through the surface doors and into the sunlight. Eyes watering at the sudden change and heartbeat still thundering in his ears, it was pure instinct that drove the Chunin to dive into a roll towards his left - and away from the half-dozen shuriken that buried themselves into the doors where his head and chest had been only an instant before.

A black-clad figure dropped down from the trees, and warm brown eyes met cold. Joji smiled, the expression creating ice in Iruka's veins. "Odd place for a field trip, isn't it... little Sensei?"


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N:** Okay, I got an unexpected day off, so I could sit down and finish this chapter. Though... you're still going to hate me. But as a peace offering for those who read 'Shinkirou', the first chapter of the sequel 'Zanzou' is out. And as always, thanks go out. This time to: **DarkRavie, Rangerfan58, harlanbabe, iNsAnE nO bAkA, kirallie, romantiscue, The-Lady-Smaell, melissa, KakashiKrazed, tearfularcher, The Laughing Phoenix, Julieanna333, Auphora66** and **WhyMustIWrite**.

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Iruka resisted the urge to take a step away from the sick anticipation, the twisted pleasure he could see in the Missing-Nin's eyes. But he couldn't stop the paling of his face, or the slight trembling of his hands as the man's powerful killing intent swept over the clearing.

The Jounin chuckled, the low gravelly sound raising goosebumps on the teacher's arms, and leaned forward. A cruel smile graced his lips as the killer murmured almost gently. "I'll give you ten seconds... Run, little Sensei."

And Iruka ran.

-

Arata gasped, feeling the breath forced from his lungs as his oponent buried a fisted hand about four inches into the seventeen year old's stomach. The boy stumbled back, twisting down and out of the way as a whistling sound alerted him to the pipe being swung at his head from behind.

A quick glance showed Mai not faring much better. The younger girl was bleeding from a gash on her thigh, curtesy of the axe-wielding brunet now lying unconscious on the ground. His attention was pulled back to his own fight as the pipe came at his knees, forcing him to jump - directly into the path of a chain tearing through the air.

Hands forming quick seals sent a weak wind jutsu blasting towards the airborne weapon, but there was too much weight and speed behind the steel links for his attack to do more than slow the momentum. His head snapped back, stars in his eyes as he tumbled to the ground. Vaguely hearing Mai scream his name through the ringing of his ears, he still forced himself to move, rolling out of the way as a familiar chakra spiked behind him.

A fire jutsu shot over his head, forcing his attackers back - but only for a moment. These were men who had been among shinobi, had trained to fight agaist them. And the teenagers were outnumbered over a dozen to one. They simply didn't have the room to move for taijutsu, and neither had the experience or chakra reserves for ninjutsu.

Essentially, they were screwed.

-

Kakashi cast careful eyes along the ground, his pace slower than it could have been as he, Kurenai and his pack painstakingly followed the Chunin teacher's scent. And tracks. The traces of human passage had been almost erased, but it was inexpertly done - barely the work of a Genin, and surely not of the Chunin who taught the little pre-shinobi spawn. The former ANBU operative had little trouble following the trail.

What was more worrisome, however, was the fact that Umino was not alone. The question was, was the man still undercover - in which case they needed to stay back, keep out of range until the teacher had what he needed - or had he been captured, in which case they needed to hurry. Slow down or keep speeding?

Kakashi tried not to imagine the reaction if he chose wrongly and Naruto - or any of the younger generation, now that he thought about it - realized that he had allowed the brat's 'precious person' to be injured.

_'I could use another of those signs of yours right about now, Umino.'_

-

Ai tensed, her entire body stilling as she felt the flash of chakra eminating from the worksite. '_Arata, Mai._' she thought. '_Something's wrong._' Rising fluidly to her feet, the teenager quickly began hooking the horses to the wagon, intentionally tying knots that could be undone with a quick pull on the right rope. Less than two minutes later, she cracked her whip and urged the horses out of the shelter and towards that familiar presence. She only hoped that her siblings could protect the children - and themselves - until she could get them out of the way.

-

Jun ducked, scooping up a handful of mud and throwing it towards the entrance of the cavern even as she scrambled back. Hurried hand gestures sent a weak lightning jutsu cracking after it, and the twelve year old hoped that the water in the mud would conduct the electricity and strengthen her little attack.

Beside her, she saw her brother drop to one knee. Momentary panic gripped the girl as she thought wildly that Shin had been hit, but then he slammed his hands on the ground, sending a spike of chakra into the earth. Spikes of rock and mud - mostly mud, to their misfortune - shot up, trying to pierce their enemies' feet. And to an extent, it worked. One of the shinobi howled, jerking back as his foot was impaled from underneath.

But the man was injured, not crippled as they had hoped - and he retaliated by sending his own earth jutsu, his stone lances much sharper and faster than the children's. Jun shrieked, flinging herself back and right as one kunai ripped into her left arm. She heard Shin curse as he thew himself to the ground, the sharp hiss of breath telling the younger girl that he had injured something in the fall.

The pair rolled out of the way just as another earth jutsu slammed into the ground, this one a pillar of stone dropping from the ceiling of the cavern. Scrambling to their feet, she saw her brother wince as he put weight on his right leg. "Fall back!" she cried out, desperation thick in her voice. The two stumbled their way further into the cave, throwing fire and lightning jutsu to try and keep their pursuers back.

Struggling to make her left arm respond, Jun nodded when Shin caught her eye, flicking his gaze to the walls on either side. It was risky, but... better a possible death than a certain one. Especially if the certain one meant that the enemy would be able to repair the seal. They had to keep that from happening at all costs.

Hissing in pain, the girl forced her injured limb to rise, fingers laborously forming the necessary seals. In unison, the two siblings slammed a hand into the wall nearest to them - and then threw themselves back as the walls and ceiling collapsed in a rush of dirt and sound.

Limping, bleeding, exhausted and afraid, the two children leaned against each other in the dark, silently wondering how long it would be before the enemy broke through their desperate barrier. Hoping that their deaths would have bought enough time for Iruka to have stopped the plan.

-

The Genin of Team 8 traded one startled glance as they felt a spike of chakra from somewhere up ahead. Grim expressions settling onto their young faces, they quickened their steps again, only to stagger to a stop a moment later. Dropping down in front of the swarm of younger children running in their direction, they flinched at the screams and swell of terror that their appearance caused.

Kiba snarled, his sharp voice silencing the children before he stepped back, knowing that Hinata was the best one to speak with frightened civilians. And these were clearly civilians.

But just as the blue-eyed girl stepped forward, they all heard the thundering of hoofbeats, followed by a furious shout. "You LEAVE THEM _ALONE!_"

-

Iruka ran, mentally counting seconds as his hands formed fast, familiar seals. Though he hadn't used this particular technique in years, the gestures still came easily to him. The tiniest spike of chakra, hands reaching out, pushing branches out of his way and brushing fingers along them as he passed, the Chunin hoped that it would still work.

A heartbeat and a wave of chakra later, and Iruka heard the telltale _swish_ as branches - glued together by his technique and released by the stronger chakra of the Jounin chasing him - snapped back through the air. The man had never been so thankful for his years as a prankster as when he heard the startled, outraged shout behind him. But he couldn't slow, couldn't hesitate.

He raced in a darting, irregular path, knowing that he had - at best - seconds before a furious murderer caught up with him. He only hoped that his family was resourceful enough to make it without him.

* * *

**A/N 2:** I don't remember whose story I read that had prankster!Iruka creating a jutsu that glued things together, but credit goes to them. The use may be mine, but the technique is his/hers.


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N:** Okay everyone, here's the next chapter. Sorry it's taking so long, but school is **brutal** this month. Seriously, I had four 12 hour clinical days last week, and an 8 hour one. Not to mention the _paperwork_... Anywho, you'll still be hating me at the end of this one, but it's getting close to over.

And thanks go to: **KakashiKrazed, kirallie, iNsAnE nO bAkA, tearfularcher, Rangerfan58, The Laughing Phoenix, deerang88, melissa, WhyMustIWrite, Auphora66 **and **The Flaming Crosby. **

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The sharp _crack_ of a whip whistled through the air, and Kiba darted forward with a snarl. Reaching out, the tracker flung a kunai, tangling the whip long enough to allow him to grab hold of it. Quickly wrapping the thin cord around his arm, the Genin braced his feet and _yanked_. He ducked to the side when he felt it go slack, dodging the older teenager who had dashed at him, kunai in hand.

He more felt than saw Hinata step in, one chakra-infused palm flashing out to slam into the older girl's shoulder. The redhead gasped in pain, stumbling over her feet slightly as she scrambled back, shaking her right arm in an attempt to force the feeling to return more quickly to the limb. Kiba moved left, circling wide to get behind the strange girl as Akamaru nipped at the heels of the horses, keeping them in one specific area.

Shino, meanwhile, had called out his allies, and the swarm surrounded the civilians, a living safeguard against the attacker. Hinata darted them a quick, distressed glance as the children screamed, obviously terrified of Shino's bugs - but all three Genin hardened their hearts, ignoring the terror of the younger ones in favor of keeping them safe.

Another heartbeat, and the stranger was charging again at Kiba, ducking into a spinning hook kick when he moved just to her left. The smaller boy blocked the redhead's long leg with his arms crossed in front of him, the impact sliding him back in spite of his feet being braced. Shino, from his guard position between the children and the battle, asked a question out of the blue. "Why do you have a wagon?"

_'What the?!' _Kiba thought, seeing his own confusion and annoyance mirrored on the older girl's face as she jumped away. _'He's asking that __**now**__?!'_

But the girl spit out her answer, glaring determined threats at the three younger teenagers. "Because I promised Sensei that I'd get those kids _out of here!" _

Hinata checked her speed so quickly that she actually stumbled, hands dropping out of attack position as the three Genin stared at the older girl. "Sensei?" the Hyuuga questioned, her voice bewildered. "You mean... _Iruka_-Sensei?"

The older one regarded them all suspiciously, brown eyes flicking between the Genin and the still-wailing children. "Yeah."

Kiba exploded. "_What_?! I _do __**not**_ believe this! _You're_ Sensei's ally?!"

-

In the damp, suffocating darkness, Shin and Jun huddled closely together. Nearly breathless with a terrible anticipation, the pair tried to control their shivers and winces, focusing instead on the other side of the mud-and-stone barrier. Unable to see, their breath amplified and echoing, with the sharp tang of blood in their noses, Shin just _knew_ that he was going to have nightmares about this - assuming that they survived, of course. Frankly, that wasn't looking very likely at the moment.

There had been voices earlier - a few minutes or an eternity ago; he wasn't sure which, time seemed so out of sync here - low, indistinguishable murmurs barely reaching the injured children. But now there was silence. Silence, and the sub-aural hum of power. Cutting his eyes towards where his 'little sister' had to be - not that he could see her with the utter absence of light that only being underground could bring - the thirteen year old was startled when he heard her breath hitch.

The younger girl moved then, shifting to kneel facing the barrier from the sounds of it. He felt her arm brush by, high enough that he guessed she was reaching out for the wall behind him. He heard a soft splash, and the hitch in girl's breathing again. "Jun, what is it?" he queried, a tight dread constricting his chest and throat, dropping his voice into a low whisper whether he wanted it to or not.

He felt his sister tremble beside him, her softer voice - usually so brash and bold, where _had_ that confidence gone? - failing to hide her fear. "Water, Shin. There's water trickling in through the little gaps in the wall... the water level in here is rising. They... they're going to flood us out!"

His heart freezing momentarily, Shin squeezed temporarily useless green eyes closed and whispered their oldest brother - their Sensei's - most common proverb. "Don't panic. Fear and anger make you strong and fast, but panic and rage make you blind and stupid. Shinobi don't panic."

After a few long minutes - or short eternities - during which the trickling of water increased exponentially until the children could _feel_ the water level beginning to rise up around their ankles, Jun finally spoke again, unseen tears heard in her voice. "But Shin... _we're not shinobi_."

-

Iruka dived abruptly to his right, insticts honed by years of turning his back on young shinobi-to-be warning him of the object coming from behind. Although, the consequences of being struck by _this _projectile would be a lot worse than a wet spot on his vest. Tanned fingers moved quickly, one hand reaching out to slap against the bark of the tree. A small explosion and a sharp hiss told the Chunin that his jutsu had suceeded in peppering his pursuer with splinters.

The fire jutsu that raced through the air forced him to abort his next move, and then he scrambled to find a foothold as an earth jutsu knocked the tree he had aimed for towards the ground. Iruka couldn't help the small, alarmed cry that tore from his lips when a larger hand latched onto his elbow, though his hands had formed the appropriate seals even as he was being spun around. Joji cursed viciously as the Chunin in his grasp was replaced by handfuls of briar bush.

The Jounin growled, quickly irritated with this weak but slippery prey. The Chunin's strength was not in power, not in dealing damage, but in trickery. In small, irritating scrapes and annoyances that wore on the body and patience.

Iruka, for his part, tried desperately to antagonize the Missing-Nin as much as he could. He couldn't compete with the other in a straightforward battle, so he would have to try and push the larger man into making a mistake. If nothing else, at least he would die more quickly if the Jounin was enraged when he caught him.

The teacher stumbled, exhaustion beginning to catch up with him. He didn't dare go hand-to-hand with taijutsu - never Iruka's specialty anyway - and he hadn't brought many weapons for fear of his cover being blown, so nin-jutsu was all he had availible to him. And his chakra reserves had never been very impressive. He was going to die here.

Bracing himself, the teacher steeled his heart against the grief of never being able to hold his children again, or see his students' eyes light up in understanding. Setting his jaw, his eyes shielded, Iruka turned back to face his foe. He darted forward, causing the stronger man to smirk - but Iruka formed the last seal of his series, switching places with the bundle of briars on the ground behind the Missing-nin.

As soon as he appeared, one hand darted out, an open-handed strike to the inside of the thigh causing the Jounin's leg to buckle slightly - right before it connected with Iruka's ribs. Doubling around the blow, too winded to form seals, the teacher was flung into the air, his back colliding hard with the trunk of a nearby tree. Iruka felt ribs break, but was more concerned with the blinding pain of his head slamming into the bark.

The smaller man slid to the ground, fire searing along his side, vision blurred and ears ringing from the impact. A surge of sudden nausea caused the teacher's face to pale - he didn't need to see his pupils to recognize the signs of a pretty serious concussion. Iruka struggled to his feet, but he stood swaying, unable to focus his senses enough to find his enemy.

When a strong killing intent flared off to his left, the teacher spun around, knees nearly buckling as bile tried to rise in his throat. The Chunin forced it down, staying on his feet through sheer willpower. His vision was blurring in and out, but the ringing in his ears began to fade - just in time to hear low, cruel laughter behind him.


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N: **Okay, only one more chapter, folks. Now, I know that the group comes across as kind of weak in these last few chapters, but that's deliberate. Remember, the kids have only had a few weeks a year of training, and Iruka's fighting a mass-murdering Jounin. And, uh, some of you _still_ aren't going to like me at the end of this one.

So anyway, thanks to: **DarkRavie, iNsAnE nO bAkA, Rangerfan58, The Laughing Phoenix, melissa, Hiya120, tearfularcher, The-Lady-Smaell** and **InARealPickle.

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Mai threw back her head and _screamed_, pain wracking her body as the chain slammed down on the side of her left knee, shattering fragile bone. Collapsing to the ground, the blonde tried to curl into a fetal position - to protect her gut and throat - but the man above her growled, one booted foot stomping down on her right arm as she tried to draw it in. "I don't _think_ so, bitch. You're not making any more of those damn seals." The teen vaguely heard her brother shout her name, a wild desperate fear bleeding into his usually calm voice, but it was being drowned out by the pounding of her heart.

Arata cursed viciously under his breath, ducking under a pipe swung by one of his own opponents. His ears still ringing, he stumbled, one knee crashing to the ground as a wave of exhaustion hit him. The sibling pair had taken down a number of enemies - nearly twenty between them, if his glancing count was right - but they had used far too much chakra, and he knew that it was only adrenaline keeping him on his feet now. Even as he struggled to his feet, he heard his sister scream again - and another voice scream in fury. "Gatsuuga!"

Snapping his eyes towards the voices, he was just in time to see what appeared to be a pair of horizontal tornadoes slam into the man above his sister. The whirlwinds touched ground, only to reveal a scruffy-looking boy and a little white puppy. But Arata had little time to think about the new arrivals. A buzzing sound caught his attention, and he watched in dumbfounded shock as a swarm of insects enveloped the men surrounding him. Another younger boy, this time with sunglasses and a trench coat covering most of his appearance, calmly moved into the midst of the swarm, kunai flashing as the little creatures made way.

Utterly confused, knowing that he _should_ be able to understand if only his mind would clear enough to think properly, he limped his way over to where his sister still lay on the ground. Dropping to his knees to assess the girl's wounds, his eyes snapped back up when a dark-haired girl with blank blue eyes stepped up, taking a clearly defensive stance between the injured teens and the battle.

Mai struggled to lift her head, eyes scanning over the new stranger. The younger girl gave Mai a comforting smile, and the blonde relaxed when she saw the hitai-ate around the newcomer's neck, the Konoha crest bringing a surge of warmth to her heart. The Leaf symbol was the last thing that Mai saw as her eyes slid closed, darkness cocooning the teen in it's silence.

-

Kakashi scowled as he flung himself forward, ignoring the little stings of the branches and leaves he charged through. He grit his teeth as that killing intent flared again from somewhere ahead of him. Coming up on his right, Kurenai twisted her hands in silent battle-signs. **"I retrieve ally"** the gesture said. Kakashi nodded his approval - Kurenai would grab Umino, and Kakashi would get first dibs on whoever was fighting the Chunin. Ensuring the younger man's return _was_ his mission, after all. Not to mention that Naruto would pout if he didn't.

Growling under his breath, the Copy Ninja increased his speed even more as he felt one of the two chakra signals ahead flicker dangerously low.

-

Ai bit her lip, absently rocking the little boy in her arms. She _hated_ being left out of this, but... the Genin team was right. _Someone_ had to stay with the rescued children, and the Genin would work better with each other than with two of them and a stranger. But still... She held tightly to the reins, ready to send the horses running - but she prayed silently that the younger teens would walk up with her siblings by their sides.

-

The group burst through the trees, automatically splitting up as the ANBU descended into the midst of what they assumed was the enemy. The men were facing away, sending water jutsu flooding into the mouth of what seemed to be a small hillside cave.

Genma smirked, hands forming seals as he targeted one of the water-casters. A heartbeat later, and a mid-level lightning jutsu went crackling into the streaming liquid. The smirk widened as the man was flung backwards - and dropped in horror as young voices screamed from inside of the cave. "Oh, SHIT!" he breathed, heart suddenly lodging in his throat.

Genma shoved past the still-twitching enemy, jumping onto the wooden blocks called up by one of the ANBU to keep himself out of the still-electrified water as he ducked recklessly into the cave. He caught up with the ANBU in front of what seemed to be a cave-in. The man had his hands set in a seal, his chakra focussed in a tight stream. Genma held his breath as the small bits of dead wood and moss responded to the ANBU agent's will, carefully creating a passage through the mud and rock.

The larger man ducked through, and an instant later wooden beams brought out a young girl, pale faced and soaking wet. The man's deep voice called out from beyond the barrier. "Take her, I've got the other."

Genma took careful hold of the child, and then bolted for the surface, breath catching as he placed three fingers against the girl's neck. "I NEED A MEDIC OVER HERE!" he called, even as he dropped to his knees, laying the child out on the ground. Part of his mind noted that the battle was over already - eight Chunin and/or Jounin were no match for over a dozen of Konoha's best - but most of his mind was focusing on the hands shifting to center over the girl's chest. He barely had time to push twice before he was being none-too-gently shoved out of the way, a masked woman taking over, the green glow of medical jutsu on her hands as she placed them over the girl's heart.

"Come on, kids." he heard, a glance to his right showing the wood-using ANBU watching as another medic worked on a teenage boy. "_Fight_." Jiraiya placed a hand on each of their shoulders as he passed, taking a deep breath before ducking into the cave - presumably to check on the seal.

As their comrades tightly bound the few survivors among their enemies, both men watched the medics fight to restart the hearts of two children.

-

Iruka felt the air rush out of his lungs as he was slammed back against a tree, the hand wrapped around his throat not allowing him to replace the loss. His knees buckling from exhaustion, dizzyness and the beginning stages of oxygen deprivation, the Chunin still tried to lash out. The Jounin's other hand simply caught the weak strike, twisting the wrist until the teacher bit back a cry of pain.

Joji brought a knee up into Iruka's stomach, doubling the smaller man over before flinging him nearly seven feet across the forest floor - never minding the branches and bushes that the Chunin tore through. The man charged at him, and something in the dull disorientation that should have been Iruka's mind noted the kunai in his hand and the mad smile twisting his face. _'That's it, then. It's over'_ he thought with sudden clarity. Feeling his pride flare, the Chunin forced himself to his feet, but he couldn't have moved a step if he'd tried.

He got lucky - he didn't have to. A grey and green blur shot over his head, slamming into the Jounin charging for him. The screech of steel on steel was unmistakable as the newcomer engaged the Jounin. Before Iruka's befuddled mind could process the change, a familiar red-eyed woman was taking his arm. "Come on, Iruka-Sensei. We need to get you out of here."

His mind finally catching up with his eyes, Iruka looked from Kurenai's concerned face over to the Jounin pair locked in battle. Taking in the grey hair and the face mask, Iruka said the only thing that his weary brain could come up with at the moment. "Kakashi-sensei, huh? ...so that's what took so long."

Kurenai was so busy choking on her laughter that she almost didn't catch the teacher when he collapsed.


	17. Chapter 16

**NOTICE: **Everyone, I am SO SORRY!!! My no-good piece-of-junk hand-me-down computer spazzed and decided that it didn't like ff net, so it wouldn't let me log in! But it's working again, so here's the chapter - with the corrections.

**A/N: **Okay, last chapter. And, I hate to do this to you all, but I'll have to skip the fight between the Jounin. My mind just keeps blanking when I try and picture it. Maybe later I can go back and write it as a one-shot or something, but for now you'll just have to use your imaginations. So anyway, thanks to: **micah.n10, Akumakami-Jada, xxasianicexx, DarkRavie, iNsAnE nO bAkA, Rangerfan58, The Laughing Phoenix, Melissa, Hiya120, tearfularcher, peppymint, x-smith, mystiri1, KakashiKrazed **and **Auphora66.

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A high, piercing sound was the first thing to register in his mind, followed closely by the fuzzy numbness that told him that he should be in pain, but someone - 'bless them' he thought - had medicated him enough that it wasn't enough to disturb him. He took a deeper breath, only to choke slightly on the sharp bite of antiseptic. 'I'm... in a hospital.' he realized. And then he heard the hitch of a quickly indrawn breath, and the rustle of cloth as someone nearby moved abruptly.

"No, don't!" hissed a familiar voice, clearly trying - and failing - to be very quiet. Iruka concentrated, bending his will to force his eyes to open. Brown eyes opened - and immediately slammed shut again. The teacher carefully took another deep breath, and then slowly opened his eyes again. For the second time in as many minutes, he was nearly blinded by a riot of color. Two blobs of yellow, a blur of orange, a splash of pink and blaze of red, and... relieved, his eyes settled on the figure to the far left.

Brown hair, faded dark green shirt and black jeans. And a startlingly familiar tanned face. "Makoto?" the Chunin questioned, his voice as hazy as his thoughts.

The eight year old grinned, relief washing over his face as he nodded eagerly. "Yeah, Sensei, it's me." A squeal and a blur of movement snapped the teacher's gaze to the other three figures near his bed just in time to see Naruto set a toddler quickly on the ground and both boys try and dash towards him. Keyword, try - because Sakura and Makoto both snatched hold of their respective charges' shirts to keep the overexcited blonds from jumping onto the hospital bed.

"Sensei!" Taro whined, his little hands stretched out towards the bed.

"Sakura-chaan!" Naruto whined, sounding so like the four year old that Iruka couldn't help but chuckle - which promply turned into a gasp as the action shot fire along his ribs. _'Oh, right' _he reminded himself,_ 'I fought Joji, didn't I? ...Yeah, let's never do that again.'_ Opening his eyes - when had he closed them? - he found the three boys standing still and solemn, and Sakura placing one green-glowing hand over his side.

"Don't overdo it Iruka-Sensei, you took a nasty beating. We stabilized your injuries and put you on a morphine drip, but you're far from completely healed."

"I kind of realized that, Sakura, don't worry. And Taro, don't look so scared, I'm just..." Iruka trailed off, looking between Naruto and Taro as the presence of all four children finally registered. The teacher looked at Sakura, his eyes serious enough to cause the girl to straighten. "I'm in Konoha, aren't I?" The pink haired medic nodded, and Iruka turned his gaze to the boys. "Makoto, why are you in Konoha?"

The eight year old gulped, nearly tumbling over his words as he rushed to explain. "They knew already, Sensei. Shin and Jun had to tell them - Hatake-san and Yuhi-san, I mean - about us to get you back up, and Ai and Arata and Mai had to team up with Yuhi-san's Genin team, and everybody got brought here, so-"

"So I went back to the House and got the younger ones to bring them here while we waited for everyone to recover." The new voice drew Iruka's gaze to the doorway, meeting sixteen year old Ai's hesitant smile. "I mean, our cover was already blown, so I didn't think it could hurt anything. Especially since Naruto-kun's age group have been basically playing bodyguard for us."

Behind the redhead, Hinata spoke up quietly. "You weren't supposed to know about that."

Ai rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Hinata-kun. You guys haven't left one of us on our own since we got here. Even Natsu's noticed, and she's _six_."

Sakura snorted. "Just be glad that Team Gai is on a mission - Lee-kun, and probably Gai-sensei himself, would jump on the chance to guard you guys. And believe me, that's a bad thing for your sanity."

Normally, Iruka would have chuckled at the easy banter between the six children, but his mind was still stuck on the redhead's first words. "Ai, what do you mean 'wait for everyone to recover'? Who else is injured, and how long have I been out?"

The girl took a deep breath of her own, but she straightened her shoulders and met his gaze as she answered. "It's been four days. All of the team except for me got hurt badly enough to need treatment - I just got some bruises. Pretty much all of you had cuts, blood loss, broken ribs and chakra exhaustion. You had some mild burns, a slight skull fracture, a major concussion and your right lung collapsed on the way back here. They just took the chest tube out yesterday - so be careful. Mai has a few broken fingers and her left knee got messed up. But the medic says that it'll heal just fine. Arata had a bad concussion. Shin and Jun got the worst of it, besides you."

The girl stopped and glared at Iruka, pointing a finger as she drove in her next words. "Now don't freak - they're fine - but they took a lightning jutsu strong enough to stop their hearts for a minute. Aside from that, Shin broke his right arm and they both got a touch of hypothermia from the water - you'll have to ask them about the story behind that one. Hatake-san messed up his hand, but I swear that he's happy about it - something about not being able to write reports? Weirdo. Anyway, they just let all of us go home except for Mai. She's got a few more days of bed rest before they'll let her try and walk on that leg. And... the Hokage said that she was going to have to think about what she's going to do with us."

Iruka bristled, immediately struggling to get up. All of the children protested, of course, but he silenced them with a look. "I am going to speak with the Hokage." He declared, his voice deceptively quiet.

His students shivered, Naruto instinctively inching away from his teacher's most dangerous tone. "Yes, Sensei." the blond murmured, his voice obviously cowed.

**-**

Kakashi smiled happily under his mask, injured hand carefully wrapped and casually propped on the arm of his chair. His other hand rested on the back cover of the book lying page-down on his lap. As wonderful as IchaIcha volume 3 was - and he had read it over a dozen times through the years - it was currently much more amusing to watch Genma getting the third degree from a bed-ridden teen and her little sister. They had already slammed the man for the intelligence - or lack thereof - of keeping a poisoned weapon in his mouth.

Kakashi snickered. "Yeah, Genma" he added - helpfully, of course - "it's very professional of you."

From the relative safety of her bed, Mai snorted. "Oh, yeah. This from the guy who got told off by a granny and an eight year old."

Kakashi choked on his own breath._ 'How the hell did she know about that?!'_ he wondered wildly. Genma - ever eager for juicy gossip - perked up. "Oh? Re-eally?"

Jun spoke up. "Yeah, and Yuhi-san said that Iruka-Sensei wasn't at all surprised that backup took so freakin' long when he saw who'd come. From what I've heard, the man has such aweful short-term memory that he'd be late for his own funeral."

Genma doubled over laughing. "Oh," the senbon-sucker gasped, 'I'll have to get her to use her Genjutsu and show me that. I'll bet Iruka's face was priceless!" The girls just smirked. Grumbling, Kakashi mentally revised his brat list. Team 7 no longer held the top slots - Iruka's latest brats had usurped them.

Amid Genma's laughter, the Copy Ninja put up his book and slouched casually - he was not sulking, damn it! - out of the room. _'Iruka should be waking up right about now'_ he thought. _'I'd better make sure that Naruto doesn't re-collapse the man's lung hugging him or something.'_

But his lips tugged into a small smile almost against his will as he stepped out. Genma had been a wreck when they first came in, utterly horrified that he'd nearly killed two kids on accident. As annoying at the other Jounin could be, it was still good to hear him laughing again - even if it was at the Copy Ninja's expense.

**-**

Tsunade cradled her head in her hands, fighting the urge to pull out her hair as she stared unseeingly at the papers on her desk. "Kids." she muttered, disgust and disbelief warring in her voice. "We've gotten so lax that a bunch of half-trained kids saw it before we did. And we call ourselves shinobi? ...What the hell has Umino been teaching these brats that isn't taught here?"

"Respect."

Tsunade snapped her head up, glaring at the man who dared to interrupt her. Her gaze softened only a little bit as it settled on the bandage-swathed Chunin, but she gestured for him to continue.

"Forgive me, Hokage-sama, but Shizune-san let me in. As for my kids, I teach them respect. To listen to the people around them, and never underestimate the civilians. Sometimes merchants are the first to know about trouble in an area, and civilian children may twist information, but they pick up on a surprising amount because no one thinks anything about talking near them as long as they're playing or something. A lot of times civilians won't talk to shinobi because frankly, we tend to act like we're above them somehow, but you'd be surprised what you learn if you're willing to treat them as equals. We got into this mess because Shin heard about people gathering at night in the woods, but no one mentioned it to Konoha because they had no proof, so they didn't want to look stupid for being uneasy over a rumor. That, and I teach my kids more observation than physical skill. The Academy's curriculum tends to focus more on technique than anything else - even our exit exam can be passed if you're just good at jutsu."

The man had a small, almost rueful smile as he spoke, but then he became serious. "Now, Hokage-sama, about my kids..."

The blonde waved, startling the man as she dismissed his concerns. "Bah. Calm down, Umino. The brats have proven themselves loyal as far as I'm concerned. They can stay. Although, if you're going to be teaching them shinobi skills, I'd rather you do it in the Academy from now on, understood?"

Iruka blinked, but then he smiled widely enough to light up his entire face. "Yes, ma'am. I'll enroll the younger ones, and I'll have the older group caught up in time for the Genin exams this spring."

Taking his leaders' wave for the dismissal it was, the teacher left Tsunade sitting in her office. Finally she chuckled, glancing down at the old report on her desk. "Sarutobi, you old goat. Did you know that those brats would help us, when you let him keep that first one? ...heh, I'll bet you did."

**-**

**four months later**

**-  
**

His children beamed, their smiles even brighter than the new hitai-ates worn proudly around the foreheads of his eldest. Teams Gai, Eight and Ten offered their congratulated the new Genins, completing the group even as they mused on 'which poor bastards will end up stuck with you guys' in Kiba's words.

Iruka couldn't help but smile as his 'ghosts' were finally a part of his beloved Village - and stirring up ten kinds of trouble with their... unusual... viewpoints. According to a snickering Kurenai, the Jounin volunteers all acknowledged the potential of Iruka's family, but they weren't quite sure that they wanted to deal with Genin who - not growing up awed by their reputations - wouldn't hesitate to point out their flaws, and were observant enough to actually notice some of said flaws.

Kakashi and Asuma, while not faced with the prospect of teaching them, still tried to avoid them - especially Shin and Mai, who were quick enough with the comebacks to turn the Jounin's excuses back against them. Gai thought that they were hilarious.

A flare of bright orange caught his attention, and Iruka turned to see Naruto duck behind him as eleven year old Kaya shrieked in outrage. "Naruto, give it back!!!" The blond stuck out his tongue, holding the girl's hitai-ate behind his back as his 'little sister' charged him. Laughing, the boy tossed the cloth to Jun, only to have it snatched away by Arata and returned to the rightful owner.

As everyone finally settled down a little and drinks were passed around, Gai commented - loudly, of course - that Iruka must be 'so beautifully proud of the youthful fires that burn in your children'. Naruto was the first to get over the volume enough to respond. "Yeah, but I feel bad for the mom. I mean, I didn't even know that Iruka-Sensei was married!"

There was a moment of silence as everyone stared incredulously at the blond, and then Sakura rolled her eyes. "Naruto, you're an idiot."

Ai just reached out and smacked the younger teen upside his head, and Iruka couldn't help but smile at how easily the Kyuubi host had been accepted into his family. His precious people were finally together, and his heart was no longer divided. After all of the years of work and worry, and all of the pain of his last mission, all he could think was '_it was worth it._'


End file.
